Bhandara-Gondia: Govt order asking SBI to disburse aid to farmers two days before bypoll raises brows
The directives had reportedly come late in the day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had dashed to the constituency to address election rallies on the last day of the campaign. (File) The directives had reportedly come late in the day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had dashed to the constituency to address election rallies on the last day of the campaign. (File)
Three days before the actual polling was to begin for the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha constituency, two letters issued by Additional Collector of Bhandara and Collector of Gondia directing the State Bank of India to keep its branches open to facilitate distribution of compensation to farmers on Saturday and Sunday have raised a question mark over the timing of the directives.
While the officials claimed that they had been told by the “higher ups” to issue the letters on May 25 (Friday), three days before Monday’s polling, a complaint regarding the matter to the Election Commission by opposition leaders had stalled the directive from taking effect. The bank branches were subsequently told by the senior bank officials not to transact business, thus winding up the process abruptly. Previously, the directives had reportedly come late in the day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had dashed to the constituency to address election rallies on the last day of the campaign.
While the letter issued by Bhandara Additional Collector Dilip Talmale had specifically mentioned that the farmers in the district were to be given compensation for the crop damage caused by pink bollworm and other pests to cotton and paddy, the now-transferred Gondia Collector Abhimanyu Kale had said that the compensation was to be deposited in the farmers’ account for which the bank branches should remain open even on holidays till June 15.
While Kale, who was transferred by the state government following EVM glitches in Monday’s polling, wasn’t available for comment, Talmale told The Indian Express, “I issued the letter as I had a directive to the effect from the state government.” Asked about the propriety of the timing of the issuance of the letter, Talmale said, “That is not my prerogative.” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wasn’t available for comment.
The Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat told The Indian Express, “There was some complaint but I am not aware of the exact details. But going by what you are reporting, compensation for anything like crop damages due to pest attack isn’t the kind of exigency that qualifies for an urgent release of damages to farmers. The question is, why were the damages not paid earlier and why were they being paid a day or two before the polling. The rules, however, do not prohibit the government from paying damages for something tomorrow for something that has happened today. About the complaint that you are talking about, I can check and come back to you tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, polling took place at 49 centres in Bhandara-Gondia constituency on Wednesday after the Election Commission issued orders for re-poll due to the EVM problem on Monday. Twenty-one of these were in Gondia assembly segment, 14 in Bhandara, 4 in Sakoli, 2 in Amgaon and 8 in Tiroda assembly segments.
During the re-poll, the constituency witnessed low voter turnout, with 48.85 per cent of people exercising their franchise till 6 pm. This was about five per cent less than Monday’s polling. The highest, 63.03 per cent polling, was registered in Arjuni-Morgaon assembly segment followed by Sakoli (59.07), Bhandara (56.22), Tiroda (55.49) and Gondia (40.40). The results will be declared tomorrow.
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