A day ahead of Sonia Gandhi's proposed visit to rain-hit areas in Neemuch district, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed her even as he sought to know where the Congress president was when natural calamities hit the farmers in previous years, especially during UPA regime. Gandhi will visit Neemuch on April 2 to meet the farmers affected by the recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms. “She is our guest and I welcome her in the State. But where was she when a natural calamity of much more magnitude hit farmers in Madhya Pradesh in previous years, especially when UPA was in power,” Chouhan told.
While talking to mediapersons, he alleged, “When UPA Government was in power, we used to get very less compensation in comparison to the actual damage and they always cited number of rules to justify the assistance.” last year, Madhya Pradesh had given compensation of nearly Rs5,487 crore, comprising Rs3,300 crore as relief and Rs2,187 crore under crop insurance scheme. No other State in the country had distributed such an amount of relief to the farmers, he said.
“We have also relaxed large number of rules in the revenue book to provide compensation and to cover maximum area and large number of affected farmers, which was nowhere done earlier in the country,” he said. “This year, nearly four lakh hectares area got affected due to natural calamity, but last year, it was 35 lakh hectares. But, that time she (Sonia Gandhi) did not pay a visit to the affected farmers,” Chouhan said. He also criticised the Congress for staging a sit-in protest recently inside the well of the State Assembly even after the session was adjourned sine die. “The floor of the House is not meant for staging protests in such a manner. They raised a demand and said that it should be fulfilled immediately, despite the fact that the State Government has already addressed all issues related to farmers' woes,” he added.