Times of India: Nagpur: Sunday, July 22, 2018.
Even as
Opposition parties accused the BJP-led government of misleading farmers in
Vidarbha and not doing anything for helping them out from crop failure, pests
attacks and mounting debts, an RTI query has revealed that over 700 farmers
committed suicide in Nagpur district in 17 years since 2001. Of them 22 ended
their lives till June end this year.
The
government’s package of over Rs22,000 crore for Vidarbha and Marathwada farmers
announced at the end of assembly session on Friday, came under sharp criticism
of the Congress-NCP legislators, who charged CM Devendra Fadnavis-led alliance
with ignoring the farmers plight.
The
information provided by the collectorate here, informed that families of about
723 farmers had applied for compensation under various schemes of the
government. However, only 270 were found to be fitting in the norms framed by
the government, while 450 were found ineligible and two cases were pending.
These 270
families were paid a total compensation of Rs2.70 crore till date, as per the
reply given to RTI activist Abhay Kolarkar by collector office in the city.
Though
Yavatmal in the region has gained a dubious distinction of farmers’ suicide
capital of the country in last decade or so, even the districts like Nagpur are
not left behind, according to Kolarkar.
Farm task
force head Kishore Tiwari slammed the stringent norms for granting compensation
to the farmers terming them as “ridiculous”. “A majority of them were deprived
to of getting compensation due to faulty rules which were not revised since
long. I’ve heard many bureaucrats asking their subordinates on rejecting the
cases. When Fadnavis was in opposition, he always insisted on revising the
rules and hiking the compensation, but after sitting at CM’s chair, his
government made norms more stringent that led to maximum rejections of
proposal,” he said.
Quoting a
government notification, the collector office informed that farmers taking
extreme step due to crop failure and mounting debts of nationalized banks or
the licensed moneylenders, were eligible for getting compensation from the
government. The kin of victims’ families were paid Rs1 lakh of which Rs30,000
is through cheque and Rs70,000 was deposited in the post offices or
nationalized banks in their names and they receive monthly interest on that.
Earlier, the
help was granted through chief minister’s relief fund, but later the government
made an allocation for such cases under head ‘Social Security and Welfare’.
Even rules were framed for granting compensation and only those who fulfil them
were eligible for getting the funds, the office informed.
Whenever a
suicide took place, the local police officials should conduct a preliminary
enquiry, the collector’s office added. Afterwards, a panel comprising
tehsildar, police and agriculture officers, should personally visit the home of
deceased farmer and submit a report to collector within eight days of the
death.
Later, a
panel under the collector consisting of chief executive officer, district
police and agriculture superintendents, one member each from farmers community
and an NGO, would decide on whether the particular suicide case was fitting
into the rules and eligible for getting compensation within 15 days. The
collector then submits a detailed report of entire case to the government.
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