Shiv Sena demands dry drought declaration, aid for Buldhana farmers

Poor and irregular rainfall in Buldhana district this year has caused heavy damage to kharif season crops. A prolonged dry spell has scorched soybean, cotton, pigeon pea, maize, black gram and jowar crops, leaving farmers in financial distress. Against this backdrop, the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray group has demanded that the district immediately be declared drought-hit and that farmers be given assistance of Rs 50,000 per hectare.

A memorandum on the matter was submitted to the district collector under the leadership of Shiv Sena district chief Jalinder Budhawat and state spokesperson Jayashree Shelke. Before submitting the memorandum, Shiv Sena office-bearers raised slogans outside the collector's office to draw the government's attention to farmers' problems. The memorandum stated that farmers had already spent heavily on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and tillage for sowing their crops, but the lack of rain has damaged the crops, raising fears of a sharp fall in output. It said farmers were caught in a double crisis of rising production costs and falling income, and that the government should provide immediate assistance.

The memorandum demanded that the government immediately conduct crop damage surveys (panchnama), declare a dry drought, and deposit Rs 50,000 per hectare into farmers' accounts across the board without any conditions. The Shiv Sena also demanded that the pending second lists of loan waiver beneficiaries be announced immediately.

The memorandum also made several other demands: fee waivers for students, priority setting up of fodder camps for cattle, and a concrete recommendation to the central government to raise the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, which it said was currently inadequate against rising inflation. The memorandum warned that if the government did not take a prompt decision on these demands, the Shiv Sena would launch an intense agitation.

Those present during the protest included district coordinator Gajanan Dhande, Yuva Sena district chief Nandu Karade, Lakhan Gadekar, Sunil Ghate, Gajanan Ubarhande, Vijay Itware, Vijay Ingale, Ganesh Rindhe, Sunil Bhagyawant, Vijay Raut, Dr Arun Pofale, Sanjay Shinde, Ramshankar Sonune, Ravindra Pawar and Sanjay Gawali, along with women's wing office-bearers and a large number of Shiv Sena workers.