BJP demands spl package for farmers in Vidarbha on AP lines

Nagpur, June 24 (UNI) The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today demanded that a special package should be declared to the farmers of the agrarian crisis-ridden Vidarbha region, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit next week.

Addressing a news conference here, BJP state unit president Nitin Gadkari said that over 1,600 farmers had committed suicides in the Vidarbha region since the last three years due to the failure of crops and heavy debt.

The Prime Minister should announce a special relief package of Rs 100 crore on the lines of Andhra Pradesh (AP) to stop the increasing suicides by the farmers in the region, he added.

Mr Singh had visited AP last year and announced the special package of Rs 500 crore for the state and Rs 60 crore to the kin of the farmers who had committed suicide, he said.

Criticising the Congress-led Democratic Front (DF) government, Mr Gadkari said its attitude towards the family members of the deceased farmers is pathetic and appalling.

This year, about 574 farmers had committed suicides in the Vidarbha region and a very few of their kin had received the financial assistance of Rs one lakh, he pointed out.

The BJP leader also demanded that a Rs 1,000 crore grant should be given for the new power connections to the farmers in Vidarbha, where the irrigation power pumps were damaged due to continuous loadshedding.

The loans of those farmers should be written off who had already paid the interest equalling to the loan amount, he added.

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