A CPI(ML) team comprising of UP state standing committee member Ramesh Singh and comrades Rajiv Kushwaha, Ram Singh, and Sudhir Kumar visited the direly affected areas of Lalitpur district on 24 January to appraise the situation of the drought-affected Bundelkhand farmers. They visited the villages of Talbehat and Bar blocks and met the farmer families.
According to the team, the effects of the drought in Lalitpur have been escalated further due to the government’s neglect and administrative corruption at local levels, so much so that most of the farmers ruined by last year’s hail storm have not yet received government compensation; large scale corruption is going on in whatever little compensation is being given. People have been forced to migrate from their villages in large numbers because of failure of agriculture due to scarcity rainfall and lack of water in canals. In this situation farmers have become trapped in the clutches of government loans and moneylenders.
The CPI(ML) team said that in spite of all the announcements and claims of the government in regard to the Bundelkhand drought there has been no relief for the farmers as evident in Lalitpur district. The report demanded that Bundelkhand should be declared drought-affected, all loans to the farmers should be waived, strict action should be taken against private moneylenders, free fodder should be provided for cattle, work should be made available under MNREGA throughout the year, the scope of food security should be increased and an increased amount of food grains should be made available for each family, water should be released in canals, cleaning and re-boring of wells should be done, and hand pumps should be installed.
