Maharashtra assembly to debate report on Vidarbha farm deaths -Abhiram Ghadyalpatil

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published Published on Dec 5, 2017   modified Modified on Dec 5, 2017
-Livemint.com

SIT probe report on deaths of 40 farmers in Vidarbha during July-September will be made public during Maharashtra assembly’s winter session starting on 11 December

Mumbai:
The report of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Maharashtra government to investigate the deaths of cotton farmers and farm workers in Vidarbha during July-September will be made public only during the upcoming wintersession of the state legislature beginning 11 December in Nagpur, a senior agriculture department official said.

The report was submitted to the state agriculture department last week.

“Since this is an important issue which mainly concerns cotton farming in Vidarbha, the report deserves to be debated in the House,” said the agriculture department official who did not want to be named.

Another government official, one of the seven members of the SIT, who requested anonymity, said the report “did not exonerate the pesticide manufacturing companies and their ground level distributors”.

“It would not be proper to reveal more at this stage but we have not certainly given a clean chit to the pesticide manufacturers and their ground level associates. We have heard out all stakeholders including the manufacturers and it is now up to the government to take appropriate action,” said the member.

At least 40 cotton farmers and farm labourers died in Vidarbha, 21 of them in Yavatmal district alone which accounts for the largest area, 4.7 lakh hectares, under cotton cultivation in India, during July-September period due to pesticide poisoning.

The SIT headed by Amaravati divisional commissioner Piyush Singh was formed on 13 October and given three weeks to submit its report. It came under intense pressure from farm activists and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) as well as pesticide manufacturers who separately made their submissions.

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Livemint.com, 4 December, 2017, http://www.livemint.com/Politics/6alAt0oMBVw8g398WfmpxK/Maharashtra-assembly-to-debate-report-on-Vidarbha-farm-death.html


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