Pune: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced on Wednesday that the state govt has decided to provide Rs5,000 to each farmer as an advance for drought relief before Diwali. He said assistance from the Centre will be delayed beyond the festival due to technical procedural requirements.Along with adding 40 more tehsils to the list of drought-affected areas, the state govt finalised the decision to distribute Rs5,000 advance per farmer. The funds are expected to be transferred to the affected farmers’ accounts ahead of Diwali. Fadnavis said since the relief package from the central govt is not possible before Diwali, the state chose to step in with Rs5,000 advance for every farmer.He said, “National Disaster Response Fund follows a specific process to declare drought and release aid. We did not want our farmers to suffer due to technical reasons, which is why we are providing this advance. We have also apprised the Centre of the grim situation in the state and urged an early release of the main package.”“Earlier, the minimum amount farmers would receive was in the range of Rs1,000 to Rs1,500. However, our govt has decided to provide Rs5,000 as an advance to farmers before Diwali. They will receive additional assistance once the entire drought assessment process is completed,” Fadnavis said.A central govt team recently visited the drought-affected regions of the state and is set to submit its findings. Meanwhile, the state govt is in the process of completing panchnamas across the affected areas to compile a detailed report, which will be sent to the Centre to secure a comprehensive drought relief package.Shifting focus to the recent MPSC protests in Pune, the chief minister said the state govt has undertaken various measures to completely overhaul Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC). He said, “Our govt is quite clear that we want total transparency in the entire MPSC process. We have already set up a judicial commission to look into the issues raised by the aspirants. Apart from that, the V. Radha committee appointed by the govt has conducted hearings, and its report will help guide a complete overhaul of MPSC.”“We have also observed that while a large number of aspirants take MPSC exams, the available seats are comparatively few. Moving forward, we have decided to implement vacancy forecasting so that seats can be systematically released every year,” the chief minister added.
