Maharashtra: ‘Farmers are dying, when will govt declare drought?’

Wadettiwar said 13 districts in the state received below-average rain in the last 45 days. Representation Pic

A total of 1,555 farmers died by suicide till July 31 this year in Maharashtra where the threat of drought looms large, claimed Vijay Wadettiwar, leader of Opposition in the assembly, on Thursday, wondering if the government was aware of the severity of the situation.

According to Wadettiwar, 13 districts of the state have received below-average rainfall in the last one and a half months. The Congress leader claimed that several reports have stated that farmer suicides in the state are on the rise because of the drought-like conditions and apathy of the Eknath Shinde government.

Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), the Congress leader said the Amravati division reported the highest number of farmer suicides at 637 in the first seven months of this year. While 183 farmers took their own lives in Amravati district between January and July 31, the figure is 173 in Buldhana, 149 in Yavatmal, 94 in Akola and 38 in Washim, he said.

Wadettiwar said the Aurangabad division has seen 584 farmer suicides. Nashik division saw 174 such deaths, while Nagpur and Pune divisions reported 144 and 16 farmer suicides, respectively, he said, adding that there were no farmer suicides in the Konkan division and the districts of Pune and Kolhapur. At 233, Wadettiwar claimed, June reported the maximum number of farmer suicides in the given period. The number stood at 226 in January, February (192), March (226), April (225), May (224) and July (229), he claimed.

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"Farmers are dying every day. When will the government declare drought?" he asked. "How are we concerned? We just need to give assurances and walk away. This is the agenda of this government," he said. Wadettiwar shared what he claimed is rainfall data of districts that have received scanty showers so far this monsoon. He said Sangli has got 45 per cent less rainfall than average. Nanded received 19 per cent less rain than usual, while Solapur received 35 per cent less, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar - earlier known as Aurangabad saw a 27 per cent deficit, Satara (40 per cent), Jalna (43 per cent), Beed (43 per cent), Dharashiv - earlier Osmanabad - (32 per cent), Parbhani (31 per cent), Amravati (30 per cent), Washim (22 per cent) and Akola (29 per cent).

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