Shetti lashed out at the Maharashtra govt for not fulfilling its election promises to farmers, including the assured loan waiver, and has questioned the government's spending on VIP visits
Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana president Raju Shetti spoke to reporters in Nashik, on Sunday. File pic
Farmer leader and the ex-MP Raju Shetti has slammed the Maharashtra government for failing to deliver its election promises to framers, including the promised loan waiver, and has raised concerns over the ruling administration's expenditure on VIP visits, reported news agency PTI.
While talking to the reporters in Nashik on Sunday, the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana president accused that the government's policies were "anti-farmer".
"What happened to the loan waiver that the Mahayuti government announced before the elections (last year)?" Shetti asked.
"Soybean farmers are not receiving help. We had protested by taking onions to the Mantralaya (state secretariat), we were jailed, only after that did the government wake up and remove the export duty on onions," he added.
Raju Shetti also took a dig at the government over a lunch hosted by NCP MP Sunil Tatkare at his residence in Raigad district, near Mumbai, for Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his visit on April 12.
He said, "You spend Rs 1.5 crore to build a helipad so that Union minister Amit Shah can have a bowl of 'aamras' and a 'modak' at someone's house, but you don't give even Re 1 to farmers. Are you not ashamed?" he charged.
"On that day, Shah visited MP Sunil Tatkare's house for a private meal. Social activist Anjali Damania has claimed on social media that the event cost the exchequer Rs 1.5 crore,"
The ex-MP further alleged that a farmer from Parbhani district, who had taken a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh, and his pregnant wife reportedly died by suicide the same night.
"The government continues to ignore such cases," he alleged.
Raju Shetti said that HM Amit Shah reached Tatkare's residence in Sutarwadi by a helicopter, for which a four-unit helipad had been constructed.
"A tender of Rs 1.39 crore (for the helipad) was issued on April 7 and published in a newspaper on April 9," he claimed.
Shetti blamed the government for the drop in onion prices. He stated that had the export duty been lifted on time, prices would not have crashed.
"The government should set a minimum support price of Rs 1,500 per quintal for onions. We do not trust NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India), which procures the farm produce on the instructions of the state," he claimed.
(With inputs from PTI)
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