Tribal Vidarbha Farm widows urge Mah. CM to visit flood effected starved families

Vidarbha Rain Havoc continued: Farm widows urge Mah. CM to visit starved families  

Nagpur-26^th July 2013  

Tribal Farm widows Kavita Santosh Sidam of village mangi  and Radha Anil Marape village Thanegoan  in yavatmal district where their husband committed suicide in this week due to crop damaged in heavy flood and rain fury  urged Mahrashtra chief minister Prthiviraj Chavan   who is on vidarbha tour to asses flood damages on 28-29 July to visit their homes to see ongoing starvation as in last 72 hours heavy rain added fuel as two farm labours  1.subhash Rathode of village Parjana and shriram mundale of village chikhaldara killed  themselves in yavatmal district due to poverty and hunger as last one month continuous rain there is no work for tribal farm labour resulting in starvation, Kishore Tiwari of vidarbha janandolan Samiti (VJAS)informed in press release today.

Earlier on Monday and Thursday Santosh Sidam of Mangi village and Anil Marape of Thanegoan village in Yavatmal district and Charan Rathode from village Parsoda in Amravati district ended their lives after watching their standing crop of cotton, soya and paddy submerge and rot but no official from administration visited ill fated families even after these farm suicides widely reported in media forcing these two farm widows  Kavita Santosh Sidam of village mangi  and Radha Anil Marape village Thanegoan  to request Maharashtra CM to visit their home and give healing touch who are innocent victims historic rain which has damaged crop  and ruined their life ,now more than million farm families are awaiting the relief aid but administration is awaiting CM visit and they are busy in report preparation tribal deptt. Failed disbursed FOOD LOAN under I.TD.P.   Popularly known as  khawati karz even after fund has been received and if CM is visiting these flood hit tribal area at least food aid will be possible ,Tiwari added.

The Maharashtra government, it will be recalled has steadfastly refused to declare a wet drought in Vidarbha, where the otherwise arid region has been lashed with very heavy rains right from June, leaving it flood-ravaged. The situation has been particularly bad in the east Vidarbha which has seen unprecedented heavy rainfall in the last 52 days. While maximum damage has been to cotton and soyabean crops, paddy, which requires lot of water, too is being damaged due to the incessant rain and farmers have been forced to sow thrice besides spending on expensive fertilizer and even if the rain stops now, the 5 million hectares on which standing crops have been damaged will not yield more than 50%. That alone works out to a cumulative loss of Rs 10,000 crores as vidarbha is receiving ten times the rain it get in a whole month in a day. The administration simply blames it on localised cloud-bursts but that is not bring any succor to the farmers ,there is urgent need to start relief operation ,tiwari urged.

Apart from Yavatmal, Wardha, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli too are reporting heavy crop damage. In fact officials at the Divisional commissioner's office admitted being baffled by reports of crops loss due to floods from the perennially drought-hit Buldhana as major dams in the region are over-flowing. "There are reports of thousands of cattle too dying," admitted an official who added, The respective collectorates in the districts will take a month to complete the survey and recommend compensation for the loss, it is reported.

The ground condition is too gloomy and prevailing distress and despair due heavy losses  in the region which is already at the epicenter of the country's worst agrarian crisis as more than 10 million people in rural Vidarbha are facing difficulty without food, electricity and healthcare. People are angry and want the government to act quickly and provide them relief, Tiwari said.