Central team inspects six places in Dharashiv; 'The drought has taken everything, there is no fodder for the cattle'

Dharashiv: A central team visited six places in Dharashiv district on Saturday, October 10, to see the drought for itself. The team included NITI Aayog adviser Dr Jaspal Singh and Dr Sakshi Bhadoria, a livestock development officer in the Union animal husbandry and dairying department. Collector Kirtikiran Pujar, zilla parishad chief executive officer Priyamvada Mhaddalkar and joint director of agriculture Mahesh Tirthkar accompanied the team.

At Karajkheda in Dharashiv taluka, the team reviewed crop losses, water and fodder. Farmers said their crops had been lost to excessive rain in each of the past two years and now to drought. They have fodder for barely a month, they said, and with their spending on farming wasted, their debts have grown.

'This drought has taken everything. We won't recover what we spent on sowing, there is no money even to harvest the soybean, and there is no fodder for my ten animals,' Sudhir Kshirsagar, a farmer at Hadongri in Bhoom taluka, told the team. Farmers at Hadongri said thefts had increased because of the drought and asked that at least fodder be provided. Grape grower Digambar Nakate of Khanapur in Washi taluka described his struggle to save his vineyard without water.

MP Omprakash Rajenimbalkar demanded that the Centre and the state take urgent measures and give special financial help to farming families. MLA Kailas Patil criticised the government, saying it had got into the habit of holding 'events' and that farmers needed immediate help rather than inspections and tours.

Source: Esakal