Mumbai: Maharashtra recorded 13,128 farmer suicide cases between Jan 2022 and June 2026 — averaging more than eight a day — but it has withheld district-wise figures sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, activist Jeetendra Ghadge has alleged.The relief and rehabilitation department’s figures show that 8,145 cases were found eligible for govt assistance, 4,042 were rejected as ineligible and 941 remain under inquiry. Of the eligible cases, 7,850 families have received Rs 1 lakh each, while 295 are still awaiting payment.Ghadge, of the Young Whistleblowers Foundation, had sought district-wise and month-wise figures for the 54-month period. On July 24, the department’s public information officer, Snehal Sawant, said the information was available with individual district collector offices and advised him to approach them. Ghadge filed a first appeal on Aug 18. After a hearing on Sept 8, the department provided a consolidated statewide table but did not disclose the district-wise breakdown.The missing data are crucial for identifying clusters of distress, comparing trends across districts and assessing whether govt interventions are working, he said.Ghadge’s demand for wider financial protection dates back to June 21, 2023, when he wrote to then chief minister Eknath Shinde about families whose Rs 1 lakh compensation claims had been rejected. He proposed including suicide among the events covered by the Gopinath Munde Shetkari Apghat Vima Yojana, so that every affected family would receive Rs 2 lakh irrespective of the cause of death.
