Farmers’ suicides on the decline: State

MUMBAI: The number of farm suicides in Vidarbha due to “agrarian reasons” has come down significantly, said the Maharashtra government. At a review meeting held earlier this month in New Delhi, the state government told the Prime Minister’s Office that the suicide rate had fallen from 60 per month in early 2006 to less than 20 per month now.

The ‘positive turnaround’ followed a slew of relief measures under the prime minister’s special relief package, the state told the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). TKA Nair, principal secretary in the PMO, took stock of the relief measures.

Mantralaya sources said the state was desperately seeking a note of appreciation from the PMO on the implementation of the relief package. The state also wanted to convince the PMO about the positive effect the prime minister’s special relief package has had in Vidarbha, sources added.

“The state’s case is like once bitten, twice shy. Earlier this year, we almost ended up blaming the PMO for the (tardy) implementation of the PM’s package without intending to do so. Now, we are taking due care to keep the PMO informed,” a senior bureaucrat said.

Earlier this year, the PMO had taken exception to an affidavit filed by the state’s relief and rehabilitation department in the Supreme Court in response to a PIL.

The affidavit, which was filed without Mr Deshmukh’s knowledge, implied that the Centre was not very keen on releasing funds for some relief measures under the prime minister’s package. A probe was ordered by the PMO into the implementation of the PM’s package even as an embarrassed Deshmukh sought to set things right.

“The state told the PMO that the chief minister is personally supervising the execution of PM’s package,” a spokesperson said. The state has claimed that more than 40% of the Rs 3,750-crore package has been spent in the last nine months.