Reeling out statistics, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh today sought to take the wind out of the sails of NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s main poll plank in Maharashtra — the drought and the Centre’s perceived apathy. ‘‘The issue of drought cannot be viewed in isolation,’’ said Singh, listing statistics of financial aid and concessions extended to the sugar industry and under the debt swap scheme.‘‘We allowed the state to provide guarantees to co-operative banks in respect of 56 sugar co-operatives to the tune of Rs 50 crore. We agreed to a further demand of guarantees worth Rs 850 crore for working capital loans for sugar co-operatives, and allowed additional open market borrowings of Rs 300 crore for sugar factories,’’ he said.‘‘Every effort has been made to meet the requirements of Maharashtra,’’ he said, adding that the state’s total borrowing is higher than any other state and the chief minister knows this. He charged the state with not taking any administrative measure despite anticipating drought months ago.
