New Delhi: In a bid to provide relief to affected farmers, the Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday decided to consider unseasonal rains as a natural calamity in the state, news agency PTI reported.
According to a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), terming unseasonal rains a natural calamity will help state the administration provide relief to agriculturists whose crops have been damaged due to the untimely rains.
Talking to mediapersons after attending the weekly cabinet meeting, Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar said, "Continuous rains of 10 mm for a minimum of five days and losses of more than 33 per cent will be eligible for aid. Due to this decision, farmers will not be deprived of assistance due to the lack of criteria".
The Maharashtra Cabinet also decided to end the practice of sand auctions and to approve a new sand policy where sand will be made available at an affordable price.
The government also gave a revised approval for Phase 2 of Nagpur Metro which aims to set up a 43.8 km rail route. The cabinet meeting also decided to set up a project for electricity generation from the garbage in the Deonar dumping ground in Mumbai.
It is to be noted that crops of several farmers were damaged due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms in Maharashtra last month, following which the Opposition had demanded that the state government give immediate relief to the affected farmers.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted light to moderate rains at isolated places in Vidarbha and Marathwada from Thursday to Saturday, April 6-8.
The weather office has issued a yellow alert over Vidarbha from Wednesday to Sunday, across Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada from Thursday to Sunday, and Konkan-Goa on Friday and Saturday, as per reports.
The IMD has also issued thunderstorm alerts in Pune, Kolhapur and Nagpur from Friday to Sunday.