Over 1,500 farmers died by suicide in 7 months in Maharashtra, says Congress

Slamming the Eknath Shinde-led BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP government, the opposition Congress on Thursday said that 1,555 farmers have died by suicide during seven months from January 1- June 31 in Maharashtra even as several districts stare at drought-like situation because of deficient rainfall. 

“The triple-engine government has failed to protect the lives of farmers,” Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said and wanted to know when the government would declare drought. 

Reeling facts and figures from the five regions - Konkan, Vidarbha, Marathwada, North Maharashtra, Western Maharashtra, Wadettiwar pointed out that the drought-like situation is triggering the suicide by farmers.

The month-wise incidents of suicide by farmers across the state is - January (226), February (192), March (226), April (225), May (224), June (233) and July (229).

The coastal Konkan region has not reported incidents of farmers ending lives. 

The worst situation is in Vidarbha which comprises two revenue divisions of Nagpur and Amravati. 

The Amravati division reported 637 suicides with the Amravati district being the worst with 183 farmers ending lives followed by Buldhana (173), Yavatmal (149), Akola (94) and Washim (38). 

The Nagpur division reported 144 suicides with Chandrapur reporting the maximum of 73 followed by Wardha (50), Nagpur (13), Bhandara (5) and Gondia (3). 

The Aurangabad division which covers Marathwada reported 584 suicides with Beed reporting maximum of 155 suicides followed by Osmanabad (102), Nanded (99), Aurangabad (86), Parbhani (51), Jalna (36), Latur (35) and Hingoli (20). 

The Nashik division which covers North Maharashtra reported 174 incidents of farmers ending lives with Jalgaon reporting maximum of 93 incidents followed by Ahmednagar (43), Dhule (28), Nashik (7) and Nandurbar (3).

The Pune division which covers Western Maharashtra reported 16 suicides with Solapur reporting maximum of 13 incidents followed by Satara (2) and Sangli (1).

Wadettiwar also pointed out that more than a dozen districts have reported below average rainfall - Ahmednagar (45 per cent below average), Sangli (45 per cent), Nanded (19 per cent), Solapur (35 per cent),  Satara (40 per cent), Chhatrapati SambhajiNagar (27 per cent), Jalna (43 per cent), Beed (43 per cent), Dharashiv (32 per cent), Parbhani (31 per cent), Amravati (30 per cent), Washim (22 per cent) and Akola (29 per cent).