For Shriram Datkhile, a dairy farmer in Dharashiv district, the floods in Marathwada have cost him his home and livelihood, leaving him with nothing.
Datkhile (55) and eight members of his family ran a dairy in Telgaon Pimpalgaon village of Bhum tehsil, earning Rs 3.5 lakh per month selling milk.
However, the heavy rainfall and the subsequent floods in the district on September 23 changed the family’s fortunes overnight.
Datkhile lost 37 cows and 20 goats in the floods last week. “On the night of September 23, we were asleep when suddenly water from the Banganga River entered the village. We hardly got seven to eight minutes to save ourselves. We could only manage to rescue two of our animals. We lost everything within minutes,” Datkhile’s son Pravin said.
He said that the family had started their business with just a handful of cattle and gradually got 40 cows and 20 goats. “Each cow in our dairy was worth around `1.25 lakh. We have incurred a loss of `60 lakh, including the goats and shed. My family sold milk worth `3.5 lakh a month with a profit margin of nearly 40 per cent,” the 26-year-old said.
The family is now living in an onion shed built on the farm of an acquaintance, he said. The family’s guava orchard was also damaged in the floods, he said.
“The crop and cattle loss surveys are completed. However, as per the NDRF norms, the compensation can only be given for up
to three animals and that too `37,500 per cattle,” Pravin claimed.
Meanwhile, an NGO working for farmers claimed its helpline, Shivaar, is flooded with distress calls from flood-hit agriculturists, particularly from the
rain-battered Marath-
wada region.
A common refrain among farmers is that government aid will be inadequate to cover their losses, Helpline founder Vinayak Hegana said. “The helpline received 274 calls on the inaugural day last week. Among the callers, 83 farmers had suicidal thoughts”, he claimed.
Hegana said that 5.5 acres of a farmer’s land in Latur were submerged, and fertiliser bags became wet.
He said that a private moneylender is demanding `40 lakh from the farmer, including `20 lakh that his late father had availed.
“The farmer told us that he was contemplating suicide and demanded that the Government waive crop loans immediately,” he said.
In Nanded, a farmer lost 40 buffaloes and 15 cows in a flood last month, which ruined his dairy business.
“The farmer said the compensation was inadequate and he was contemplating suicide,” Hegana added.
He said agriculturists also claimed that the cattle are not being insured due to lumpy skin disease.
104 deaths since June 1
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: A total of 104 persons have died in monsoon-related incidents since June 1 in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region, officials said on Monday. Excess rainfall has impacted 3050 villages in the region, which comprises Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Parbhani, Nanded, Dharashiv, Hingoli, Latur and Beed districts, causing crop damage and losses to farmers, as per a report from the divisional commissioner office. “Of the 104 deaths recorded in Marathwada between June 1 and September 29, seven took place in floods since September 26. A total of 2838 animals have perished since June 1,” the report stated. Nanded led with deaths of 28 persons, followed by 17 in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, 16 in Beed, 13 in Hingoli, 9 each in Jalna, Dharashiv, and six each in Parbhani, Latur, the report informed. “Roads of length 2701 kilometres, 1504 bridges, 222 water lakes, 1064 schools, 9567 electricity poles, 58 buildings of local governing offices, 392 water pipeline schemes, 352 primary health centres are partially or fully damaged in the recent floods,” it said.
The report added that repairs of the above would cost Rs 2432.53 crore. The lists of farmers who have faced losses will be uploaded and the farmers have to do e-KYC and get the aid in their bank accounts, Divisional Commissioner Jitendra Papalkar told PTI. The floods in the region are decreasing but alert is being maintained for people residing in low lying areas along Godavari river banks, Papalkar added. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday reviewed the flood situation in Marathwada.