Farmers of Maharashtra will receive pre-holiday payments due to the drought

State Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that due to the severe drought situation, the government decided to support agricultural producers in advance. According to him, more than 85% of the state's talukas have been hit by the disaster. After the authorities included another 40 zones in the list, the total number of affected areas reached 305 out of 358.

Funds will be disbursed directly according to the approved list, which was additionally supplemented with 3.5 million farmers and has already been processed to receive the planned debt write-off payments. Usually, the official drought declaration occurs at the end of November, and aid arrives in December; however, due to the critical situation, the notification was issued as early as October.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar also noted the serious water crisis and drought in the region. She stated that the government is developing response measures and intends to provide support taking into account the recommendations of a special central government team that is assessing the affected areas.