Deshmukh & co head for Nagpur

MUMBAI: The Democratic Front (DF) government in Maharashtra has geared up for the high-profile visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Vidarbha on Friday and Saturday. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh sat through a series of meetings at the Mantralaya on Thursday to prepare for the visit necessitated by suicides of around 580 farmers since June ’05.

Mr Deshmukh left for Nagpur on Thursday evening. Chief secretary DK Sankaran is already in Nagpur to supervise the implementation of the Maharashtra government’s Rs 1,075 crore relief package announced in December ’05 for the six districts of Vidarbha with the most number of suicides.

On Thursday, secretaries from all relevant government departments —relief and rehabilitation, agriculture, irrigation, rural development, co-operatives — remained huddled together in meetings, before leaving for Nagpur.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to reach Nagpur from Delhi at 10 am, from where he would leave for Waifad village in Wardha district. On Saturday, the Prime Minister will visit Kolejhari village in Yavatmal, the district which has reported the maximum number of suicides.

In both the villages, the Prime Minister is scheduled to have one-to-one dialogue with farmers and their leaders. On Saturday, a presentation would be made before the PM at Nagpur by the State regarding the various relief programmes and schemes the government is undertaking.

The Prime Minister would be accompanied by agriculture minister and NCP head honcho Sharad Pawar, who has drafted a relief package for 35 districts in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Maharashtra reporting more than 10,000 suicides since ’01, according to government estimates.

Civil aviation minister Praful Patel and Minister of state with independent charge for non-conventional energy Vilas Muttemwar, who is the MP from Nagpur, will also be in the Prime Minister’s entourage. A host of ministers from the Maharashtra cabinet have also reached Nagpur.