Amid worsening drought conditions across Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) supremo Sharad Pawar has addressed a formal letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, urging immediate relief for distressed agriculturists, farm workers, and rural residents. The veteran leader has placed a comprehensive list of seventeen specific demands before the state administration, seeking urgent intervention to alleviate the severe agrarian crisis gripping the region.
Key Financial Relief and Compensation Demands
The memorandum emphasizes total agricultural loan waivers, exemption from land revenue, and a complete waiver of electricity bills for farming communities. Furthermore, the proposals include providing twenty-five kilograms of free food grains per family and granting financial assistance of one lakh rupees per hectare for crop losses. Farm labourers are proposed to receive twenty-five thousand rupees in direct assistance, alongside immediate arrangements for drinking water for both villagers and livestock, activation of employment guarantee works, and allocation of special funds for water conservation initiatives.
Educational Concessions and Special Legislative Session
Addressing the welfare of student communities in affected zones, the letter requests a complete waiver of academic fees, hostel charges, and mess dues. Comprehensive compensation for damaged orchards and seasonal crops has also been strongly advocated. To deliberate on the gravity of the situation, Sharad Pawar has demanded a three-day special session of the state legislature and insisted that financial relief reach farmers and labourers well before the Dussehra and Diwali festivals.
Party Contributions and Ground Inspections
In a related development, a high-level meeting of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) took place at the leader's residence to discuss drought management strategies. During this gathering, party legislators and parliamentarians collectively resolved to donate one month's salary to aid affected cultivators. Continuing his active engagement, Sharad Pawar, at the age of eighty-five, is scheduled to embark on a tour of drought-stricken areas starting September 28 to directly assess crop damages and interact with struggling farmers. This follows earlier administrative actions where the state government declared a drought across two hundred sixty-five talukas, affecting seventy-five percent of the state.
