Maharashtra’s Marathwada witnesses 483 farmer suicides in first half of 2023; Beed district tops list

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The Marathwada region in Maharashtra has witnessed a distressing surge in farmer suicides, with a total of 483 suicides reported in the first six months of this year, according to a state revenue department official.

The number of farmer suicides has shown a steady increase, with 62 cases in January, 74 in February, 78 in March, 89 in April, a slight dip to 88 in May, and 92 in June.

Beed district accounted for 128 of the 483 deaths, followed by 90 in Osmanabad and 89 in Nanded, as per a report from the revenue department covering Aurangabad division.

Of the 92 deaths in June, Beed led with thirty, followed by Nanded with 24.

"Of the 483 cases, 304 were found to be eligible for ex-gratia, 112 cases are under inquiry while 67 have been found ineligible. Only 10 families have so far got ex-gratia, which comprises cash aid of Rs 30,000 and Rs 70,000 kept as fixed deposit to be claimed in the future," the official explained.

Incidentally, Beed is the home district of state agriculture minister Dhananjay Munde, though he was sworn in on July 2.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged irregularities in the award of contracts worth Rs 12,024 crore issued by the city civic body in the past has registered three Preliminary Enquiries (PE).

The PEs are in connection with work orders issued between November 2019 and October 2022, he said.

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The official said the SIT, investigating the alleged irregularities flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) into the award of civic contracts worth over Rs 12,000 crore, has so far collected some important documents and also recorded statements of some persons.

One of the three PEs is regarding the work orders worth over Rs 200 crore which were allegedly awarded without issuing tenders by the Road Department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the official said.

Another PE is about the alleged non-signing of agreements between a contractor and the BMC related to 64 work orders, he said.

"As many as 58 of these 64 work orders were related to the Road Department while six orders are related to four other departments, including storm water drain and sewage treatment work," he said.

The third PE is about the alleged "unnecessary" delay by BMC in acquiring the plot of a public utility situated at Eksar village in suburban Dahisar, he said.

Prima facie, the acquisition of the land at Eksar village was unnecessarily delayed which caused a financial loss to the government.

The said plot worth several crores was reserved for a public utility but was owned by a private person, he said, adding the SIT is investigating the reasons for the delay in the acquisition of the plot.

"While examining documents regarding the award of work tenders, it came to light that in some work there was cost escalation while in others, a third party agreement was done," the official said.

He said the investigation can reveal whether irregularities had happened.

He said SIT officials are examining the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) followed by the BMC for awarding work to contractors.

"SIT officials are trying to understand how work contracts are finalised and who had the powers to award them," he said.

The SIT is also trying to identify the officials concerned who were handling the projects which are currently under the scanner and where they are posted now, he added.

The formation of the SIT was announced by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde based on the CAG report.

It is headed by Mumbai police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar and includes the Joint Commissioner of Police (EOW), Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) and other officers.

The SIT had last week visited the BMC headquarters on two separate days. (Agencies)