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This came after the state was hit by the Rs. 70,000 crore-irrigation scam in the previous regime led by the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.

In July this year, on his birthday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis urged citizens to financially help his government resolve the drought situation in Maharashtra.

It was far beyond the expectation of the government that that contributions came in a huge surge from a wide cross-section of people- from villagers to Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar to cricketer Ajinkya Rahane to spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar.

 

The government said that work had started in 6,180 villages in the first phase and 1,20,485 small projects were completed. In nearly 3,000 villages, work worth about Rs.300 crores were done through people's participation which includes contribution of machinery.

Maharashtra's farmer suicide belt extends from Vidarbha to the Marathwada region. In the latter alone, this year 740 farmers have killed themselves hit by the agrarian crisis as compared to 574 who committed suicide in 2014.