‘Relief package for farmers not a magic wand’

CHAKUR, MAHARASHTRA: Stating that the relief package given by the Central and state governments to farmers in the state was ‘not a magic wand’, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Sunday said it would take time to show results.

“It is not a magic wand that results are seen overnight,” Deshmukh told a farmers’ rally here in the presence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

He said incomplete irrigation projects in the state would be finished within the next three years. This would take the percentage of irrigated land in the state from 16% to 25%, he said.

The percentage of irrigated land in the state was very low when compared to the national average of 40%, Mr Deshmukh said. Lack of irrigation facilities is the biggest problem being faced by Maharashtra, he said.

Expressing concern at the spate of suicides by bankrupt farmers, Ms Gandhi today said that agriculture is being accorded top priority in the 11th five year plan. The said the UPA chairperson added that an expert group has been set up to look into the problems faced by debt-ridden farmers.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to attend the rally but could not make it as he was attending a United Nations programme, Mr Deshmukh said.