<span style="color: #222222;">Maharashtra Government has announced a ten thousand crore rupees relief package for the districts affected by excessive retreating rains that hit the state earlier this month.<br />''<br />''Addressing a press conference in Mumbai this afternoon, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the government will try to ensure that the compensation reaches the affected families before Diwali.<br />''<br />''Lakhs of hectares of standing crops like sugarcane, soyabean, rice, lentils, pomegranate and cotton were destroyed in the torrential rains that hugely affected Solapur, Sangli, Kolhapur, Satara, Osmanabad, Latur, Beed and Aurangabad districts.  <br />''<br />''AIR  Mumbai correspondent reports, stating that this was not some kind of relief package but a kind of financial assistance, Mr. Uddhav Thackeray said the money would be used not only to compensate farmers whose crops have been destroyed but also to rebuild houses, restore power, repair bridges and roads apart from compensating for the loss of livestock.<br />''<br />''Mr. Thackeray announced that farmers will receive ten thousand rupees per hectare for damages incurred for rain-fed crops, while twenty five thousand rupees per hectare will be paid for loss of horticulture crops.<br />''<br />''The compensation will be limited for losses incurred only upto two hectares of land per farmer.<br />''<br />''He underlined that the compensation was way higher than the Centre's offering of 6,800 per hectare for rain-fed crops and 18,000 per hectare for horticulture crops.<br />''<br />''Already running short on resources, Mr. Thackeray said his government will not shy away from taking loans if required.<br />''<br />''He, however, reminded the Centre that they still had to pay over 38000 crore rupees of dues to Maharashtra.<br />''<br />''Welcoming the decision, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar said today's announcement proves that the MVA government stands firmly with the farmers in their hour of need.<br />''<br />''Latur's Congress MLA Dhiraj Deshmukh said this timely decision will reassure the farmers and help them rise from this loss.</span>