Mumbai, July 29

 The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre for 'misleading' the people that an aid of Rs 701 crore has been sanctioned for Maharashtra farmers as flood relief.

Referring to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar's statement on Wednesday (July 28) in parliament that the aid amount was given to the state, NCP Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said the relief pertained to the floods of mid 2020.

"We want to clarify that the amount which the Union Minister mentioned was for the last year's floods when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had sought Rs 3,701-crore as relief, of which only Rs 701 crore has come, that too, after a year," Tapase pointed out.

For the current flood crisis in the state the Centre has not given any relief to the farmers and the amount sanctioned now (Rs 701 crore) was for the previous year's flood havoc, when Maharashtra had given a relief package of Rs 4,375 crore, he added.

"Currently, Maharashtra is carrying out the assessment of the exact losses suffered due to the floods last week. Then we shall send a comprehensive report to the Centre for assistance," Tapase said.

Taking a swipe at the Centre, he said that it could have sanctioned an immediate ex-gratia relief amount for the Maharashtra farmers without waiting for the loss assessment report, as was done for Gujarat.

However, the Centre has not done this since this state currently has a MVA government of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress, he stated.

ians