Maharashtra’s Marathwada witnesses 483 farmer suicides in first half of 2023

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 officialThe 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 JuneBeed 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 divisionOf the 92 deaths in June Beed led with thirty followed by Nanded with 24Of the 483 cases 304 were found to be eligible for exgratia 112 cases are under inquiry while 67 have been found ineligible Only 10 families have so far got exgratia which comprises cash aid of Rs 30000 and Rs 70000 kept as fixed deposit to be claimed in the future the official explainedIncidentally Beed is the home district of state agriculture minister Dhananjay Munde though he was sworn in on July 2Meanwhile Mumbai Polices Special Investigation Team SIT probing the alleged irregularities in the award of contracts worth Rs 12024 crore issued by the city civic body in the past has registered three Preliminary Enquiries PEThe PEs are in connection with work orders issued between November 2019 and October 2022 he saidAlso readMaharashtra Dy CM Ajit Pawar unhappy over nephew Rohits protest in legislature complexThe 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 12000 crore has so far collected some important documents and also recorded statements of some personsOne 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 saidAnother PE is about the alleged nonsigning of agreements between a contractor and the BMC related to 64 work orders he saidAs 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 saidThe 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 saidPrima facie the acquisition of the land at Eksar village was unnecessarily delayed which caused a financial loss to the governmentThe 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 plotWhile 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 saidHe said the investigation can reveal whether irregularities had happenedHe said SIT officials are examining the Standard Operating Procedure SOP followed by the BMC for awarding work to contractorsSIT officials are trying to understand how work contracts are finalised and who had the powers to award them he saidThe 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 addedThe formation of the SIT was announced by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde based on the CAG reportIt is headed by Mumbai police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar and includes the Joint Commissioner of Police EOW Deputy Commissioner of Police EOW and other officersThe SIT had last week visited the BMC headquarters on two separate days Agencies