A delegation of ministers led by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Election Commission officials Friday and demanded Rs 5,000 crore in relief towards the damage caused by the unusual spell of heavy rains and hailstorms that have been lashing parts of the state for almost three weeks now. Since the model code of conduct is in place for the Lok Sabha elections, Chavan had to seek the EC’s permission to allow the state to provide compensation over and above the amount fixed under the Centre’s Natural Calamity Relief Fund. “We requested the Commission to be liberal and treat it as a special case, considering the extent of damage that has taken place. We told them it is not an attempt at political gains and all political parties have been demanding relief,” Chavan said. The CM said the state had put forward a tentative proposal requesting release of Rs 5000 crore under a four-fold relief programme, which includes cash compensation for crop loss, waiver of interest on loans for one year, partial waiver of electricity bills and urgent repairs to damaged electrical equipment. “We requested the Centre to change some of its existing norms for extending relief. Apart from the four main areas of relief, we are also seeking a special package to extend financial assistance to farmers having orchards, since a large number of these have got totally wiped out by hailstorms,” Chavan said. The CM was accompanied by state’s Home Minister R R Patil, Cooperatives Minister Harshvardhan Patil, Employment Guarantee Minister Nitin Raut and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anil Deshmukh. The state has proposed a compensation of Rs 10,000 per hectare for non-irrigated but cultivated land, Rs 15000 per hectare for irrigated land and Rs 30,000 per hectare for land under horticulture, instead of Rs 4500, Rs 9000 and Rs 12,000 respectively as per current norms. The state is now awaiting replies from union government and the CEC. Crops on close to 20 lakh hectares of land under cultivation is feared to have been destroyed in the affected districts. Besides this, hailstorms have claimed 28 human lives, damaged over 18,222 houses, and killed 9180 poultry birds and farm animals.
