Maharashtra Council: Opposition, govt spar over farmer suicides in state

Mumbai: Maharashtra Legislative Council on Monday witnessed noisy scenes as Opposition parties questioned the government over monetary aid given to families of farmers who committed suicide and also slammed it for contending that the “sins” of the previous regime prevented it from doing the needful. [caption id=“attachment_2674092” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. REUTERS[/caption] As the House assembled for the Question Hour, Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde questioned as to how many of the 3,228 farmers who as per the government data committed suicide in 2016, have been provided with monetary aid. He also questioned that if 3,228 farmers have committed suicide, did the government present a false affidavit in the Bombay High Court, where it had said that around 1,000 farmers committed suicide? In response, Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse said there are certain norms for providing aid to families of farmers who have committed suicide. “We are only following norms set by the previous government that entail distribution of financial aid to families. If a farmer has committed suicide due to crop failure or if he is unable to repay loans, he is entitled for help,” he said. He added that committees have been set up at district level for finding out the cause of suicides. Khadse further said at present, out of 3,228, about 1841 families have been given financial assistance. “The rest did not fit into the criteria. We have asked officials to get more information on the cause of suicides,” he said. Khadse said one of the rules the government has to follow is to wait for a viscera report of the deceased, to understand the cause of death. “There are some cases where we haven’t got the viscera report. Also, it takes time for obtaining the report. The CM had last week instructed that labs should set aside all other work and ensure a viscera report is made within a month,” Khadse said. Munde raised an objection to this saying a viscera report may help understand how the farmer committed suicide and not the cause of death and therefore delaying help for this reason is unacceptable. eplying to Munde, Khadse said the rule has been made by the previous government and the present regime has nothing to do with it. “These are the sins that the previous government has committed. They can’t be washed in a day. We are having to bear with the problems that have cropped up due to your misgovernance. What did you do for 10 years? Could you not change rules?” Khadse questioned. A ruckus ensued with the Opposition shouting slogans against the government which led to the House getting adjourned. PTI