Central drought team tours Karjat taluka; farmers seek ₹50,000 a hectare

Karjat: A central government team visited Karjat taluka on Friday, October 9, to see for itself the shortfall in kharif rainfall and the drought-like conditions. It went to fields around Takali Khandeshwari, Chincholi Kaldat, Mahi Jalgaon, Walwad and Rehkuri and looked at crop losses, the state of orchards and the fodder available for livestock.

The team was led by Dr K. Punnuswamy, a director in the Union department of agriculture and farmers welfare, and included Sumit Sharma, an assistant director in the food and public distribution department, and Absar Ahmad Khan of the water supply and sanitation department. State agriculture commissioner Suraj Mandhare, additional collector Shailesh Hinge, zilla parishad chief executive officer Anand Bhandari and district superintending agriculture officer Sudhakar Borale were among the officials present.

Farmers told the team their crops had burnt in the fields, orchards had dried up, ponds had run dry and fodder and water for cattle had become a serious problem. 'Sir, everything we had is gone. You are our god now,' they pleaded. Some officials on the team were moved by the extent of the damage.

Raghu Aaba Kaldate, taluka president of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), said the area had received only 30 per cent of its usual rain this year and demanded compensation of ₹50,000 a hectare. Congress district president Kiran Patil called for a review of the rural drinking water norm of 20 litres a person, fixed in the 1990s. Farmers said help should come quickly, whether as fodder camps, fodder depots or money paid straight into their accounts.

The team also inspected fields in Ahilyanagar taluka, looking at soybean, pearl millet and onion crops at Chas and at the Devi lake at Nimgaon Wagha. Farmers there said the crops had stopped growing for want of rain and the lake did not hold enough water for farming. With fodder and water for cattle now having to be bought, they asked for the crop-loss surveys to be finished soon and for financial help to follow.

Source: Pudhari