Crop loss in hailstorm-hit Baramati: Compensation paid to Pawar kin

One of the reasons for the Congress-NCP alliance’s rout at the general election was the Maharashtra state government’s delayed response to an unexpected agragrian crisis that developed weeks before elections when unseasonal rains and hailstorms destroyed thousands of acres of standing crop. While farmers complained bitterly of not having received the promised compensation, interestingly, among those who did receive the relief were Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s mother Ashatai and brother Srinivas. They suffered loss of crop in February this year. [caption id=“attachment_1447211” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] NCP leader Ajit Pawar. PTI[/caption] According to records available with the Baramati tehsil office in Pune district, it shows that the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s mother Ashatai owns 0.87 hectres and brother Srinivas owns 2 hectres of agricultural land in Katewadi village, Baramati taluka. The tehsildar’s office of Baramati has credited Rs 13,050 and Rs 30,000 into Ashatai’s and Srinivas’s bank accounts respectively in the Katewadi branch of Pune District Central Co-operative Bank, as compensation for loss of crops. “We had carried out an extensive survey as per the procedure laid down by the government to ascertain the exact loss of crops due to the hailstorm. Then, we asked the farmers to provide the bank account numbers to credit the amount into it. Those farmers who have given the bank account numbers, we have credited the sum into their accounts,” said Neelprasad Chavan, Tehsildar of Baramati, speaking to Firstpost. Interestingly, former union agriculture minster and NCP president Sharad Pawar and his daughter MP Supriya Sule’s names also figure on the list of farmers eligible to get compensation for crop loss. Pawar and Sule own 8.80 hectares and 3.97 hectares respectively of agricultural land in Malegaon village in Baramati. They are entitled to receive Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000 as compensation respectively though the amount is yet to be credited into their bank accounts. “When our officials asked for the bank account numbers, associates of Mr Pawar and Mrs Sule refused to provide it saying that they don’t want the compensation. So, we will not deposit the amount,” explained Chavan. Due to the unseasonal heavy rains and a hailstorm in February, around 20 lakh hectares of farm land spread across 28 districts in Maharashtra were badly damaged. Standing crops including grapes, oranges, bananas and pomegranates as well as wheat and jowar and were affected. Subsequently, the state government announced a special package of Rs 4,000 crore for affected farmers, with permission from the Election Commission of India. The compensation for crops on non-irrigated and irrigated lands was Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 a hectare, respectively, while compensation for horticultural cultivation was fixed at Rs 25,000 a hectare. While Srinivas Pawar was not available for comment, his personal assistant Bhatkhal said Srinivas was out of the country. “We have huge agricultural land in Katewadi and might have got the compensation. But I am unaware about it,” Bhatkhal told Firstpost. Nawab Malik, national spokesperson of NCP, said they might have received the sum like any other farmer whose crop was destroyed by the hailstorm. “And the amount might have been credited into their accounts directly. We will return the compensation amount,” said Malik. Last month, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar was accused of holding a meeting in a drought prone village in Baramati constituency where he allegedly threatened villagers that they would lose water supply if they did not vote for his sister Supriya Sule. In April 2013, he had kicked up another controversy with an insensitive remark mocking farmers reeling under severe drought. “If there is no water in the dam, how can we release it? Should we urinate into it?” he had said in April 2013 while addressing a public meeting in a village in Indapur taluka in Pune.