The Union Government has sanctioned the financial assistance of 3,050 crore rupees for the drought affected regions in Maharashtra. The decision was taken at a High-Level Committee meeting held in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Union Home minister Mr. Rajnath Singh while Union Agriculture Minister Mr. Radha Mohan Singh, Minister of State for Finance Mr. Jayant Sinha, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Mr. Arvind Panagaria, Home Secretary Mr. Rajiv Mehrishi attended the meeting along with other senior officials. The committee examined the proposals on the basis of report of the Central Teams which visited the drought-affected parts of the state and approved the assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund.<br/> <br/>Welcoming the announcement, Maharashtra Chief Minister Mr. Devendra Fadnavis said that the Centre's assistance towards the drought relief was the biggest-ever to the state for any natural disaster. He expressed his deep gratitude to the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and the Government of India. While speaking to reporters in Mumbai today, he sought to corner the Opposition parties, who had made the drought relief a major issue during the just concluded Winter Session of the State Legislature in Nagpur, saying that there could not be a more befitting reply to those who have been only doing politics on the drought instead of uniting to help farmers in the times of distress.<br/><br/>Earlier, the state had demanded financial assistance to the tune of 4,000 crore rupees for the relevant measures through the memorandum presented to the Centre last month. The immediate assistance of 920 crore rupees was already given to the state from the NDRF for the same purpose. Meanwhile, the main Opposition party Congress has sharply reacted to the announcement saying the assistance amount is quite meagre and comes as a major disappointment to the distressed farmers. <br/><br/>The State Unit Chief Mr. Ashok Chavan has called it as a great injustice to the hapless farmers while the Leader of Opposition in State Assembly Mr. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil has sought to know the rate of per hectare compensation to the distressed farmers as they have already been denied the loan waiver. Leader of Opposition in the Council and NCP leader Mr. Dhananjay Munde has termed the assistance as too late and too little and asked the Government to reach the all necessary help in time and prevent any further damage.