Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal on Saturday demanded that the state government immediately declare a drought, provide financial assistance of Rs 50,000 per hectare to affected farmers and announce a complete farm loan waiver, citing prolonged dry spells and crop losses in several parts of the state.

Sapkal alleged that some areas had received little or no rainfall for nearly one-and-a-half months, leaving standing crops to wither in the fields. He accused the Mahayuti government of failing to take concrete measures to address what he described as a serious agrarian crisis.