Sharad Pawar, the former Union Agriculture Minister and leader of NCP(SP), is calling on the Maharashtra government to act fast. He wants officials to carry out ground assessments, known as panchnamas, and hand out financial help to farmers hit hard by heavy rains and waterlogging. This damage has wrecked crops, livestock, and homes across several districts.
The Kharif crops, a key farming season in India, have been destroyed on more than 2.6 million hectares of farmland statewide. Farmers in places like Solapur, Latur, Dharashiv, Jalna, Parbhani, and Ahmednagar face the worst of it, dealing with massive losses from Maharashtra floods and heavy rainfall.
Pawar shared his concerns after seeing the devastation firsthand. “This is a drought-prone district, but we’ve had insane amounts of rain,” he said. Reliable crops like soybean have rotted away due to waterlogging, leaving farmers in total despair. “I’ve dealt with droughts before, but nothing like this heavy downpour.”
He stressed that both state and central governments must step up during such crises. The Maharashtra government needs to jump into action right away—conduct those panchnamas and deliver compensation to affected farmers. Pawar added that the central government can offer aid for natural disasters like this, so the state should request help while also dipping into its own funds.
Compensation should cover lost crops, dead cattle, and even land washed away by the floods. “If just the crop is gone, it’s a one-year hit,” Pawar explained. “But when soil gets swept off the fields, farming stops for good. We also need fixes for ruined roads and lost livestock—there are reports of that everywhere.” He urged the government to involve farmers in the damage inspections and speed up aid to help them recover now and prepare for future shocks.
Pawar noted that the weather department predicts more rain over the next four days. “Their forecasts have been spot-on this year—even unusual May showers came true,” he said. Officials and farmers should heed these warnings and plan ahead. Meanwhile, voices are growing louder for Maharashtra to declare a “wet drought,” a term for flood-like damage in dry areas.
Congress leaders Vijay Wadettiwar and Amit Deshmukh, along with NCP(SP) lawmaker Rohit Pawar, are pushing for the same. They demand immediate wet drought status to unlock quick relief for distressed farmers facing crop damage and soybean losses from the ongoing heavy rainfall in Maharashtra.
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