Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday demanded an Rs 85,000 crore relief package for distressed farmers, agricultural labourers and women in Maharashtra, urging the state government to prioritise rural livelihoods over major infrastructure projects and other expenditure.

Pawar also called for Reserve Bank of India intervention to address the burden of microfinance loans on women, alleging that coercive recovery practices had pushed some borrowers to the brink of suicide.