The deaths of farmers due to poisoning, caused by the use of pesticide sprays, in Vidarbha's Yavatmal district appears to have finally woken up the state government. So far, 18 farmers have died in Yavatmal in the last three months with Gajanan Fulmali, who died on October 1, becoming the latest victim.
The state government is now considering ways to compensate families of farmers who have succumbed to poisoning.
Activist Kishor Tiwari, who is the chairman Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavalamban Mission—set up by the Maharashtra government—told THE WEEK that the number of deaths could be much higher. "The reports that I am getting suggest that 10 each have died in Akola and Buldana while 18 others have succumbed to poisoning in Yavatmal district alone. All of them were cotton farmers or labourers working on cotton farms and using pesticides like Profex Super and Polo," said Tiwari.
According to activist, there is a clear attempt by the government agencies to cover up the actual number of deaths. "When I submitted a list of eight deaths, the government agreed that four had died due to poisoning. First of all, it is a clear failure of all government machinaries. There is no induction training to farmers and labourers on how to use the pesticides, what is the quantity required etc. Then as the cases of poisoning became apparent there was no prompt response from health department, neither was the antidote available. On top of all this, they are debating how many have actually died because of poisoning, trying to bring the number down," Tiwari said. "There are at least 100 others who are down with serious effects of poisoning."
He explained that these pesticides are either to be sprayed in the morning or in the evening. Also, the person who sprays them has to cover himself fully and wear a mask. The first impact of poisoning is felt on the skin and eyes.
There is no awareness created among farmers about the pesticides and there is no regulator who can keep a check on the kind of pesticides that are entering the markets.
Tiwari pointed out that eight lakh bags of banned BT seeds have entered the market in Vidarbha region. "The commissioner for agriculture, Sunil Kendrekar, had recommended strict action against a number of companies. But he was transferred within three months due to pressure from lobbies of seed companies and pesticides manufacturers," he said.
Tiwari said his mission had made a recommendation to the government to give a compensation of Rs 3 lakh per victim. The government agreed, but reduced the compensation amount to Rs 2 lakh, given under Gopinath Munde Accident Insurance scheme.
"Here is the big joke now. This scheme does not have pesticide poisoning in its list of accidents. So, essentially families of farmers have to wait until pesticide poisoning is included in the Insurance Scheme,” he said.
The state government has now appointed a committee headed by S.K. Srivastava, additional chief secretary (home) to probe the cases of pesticide poisoning. Besides, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has asked Sadabhau Khot, minister of state for agriculture, to visit the districts affected.
