Briefing reporters here, he said the Congress was watching with growing concern the dismal regard for life and property in the State. ``Every day brings another murder or dacoity. There has not been a single day in Mumbai in the past few months when the government can claim that someone has not been murdered,'' the leader of Opposition at the Centre said.

Chavan said Pawar will press upon Vajpayee the need to despatch a Central team to Maharashtra to study the situation here. ``In the first six months of this year alone, the city and its environs have witnessed at least 200 killings, never mind, the clarifications of Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde. His explanations are laughable. We condemn hisattempts to divert attention by claiming that there have been no communal conflagratgions during their regime,'' Chavan said.

He also expressed concern at the State government's continuing inability to come to the aid of farmers in Maharashtra who were committing suicides with alarming regularity. ``There is an attempt by the government to pass off these suicides as caused by failed romances or other family quarrels,'' Chavan said adding that his party was appalled that while the Central government had stated in Parliament that the responsibility to come to the aid of the farmers was that of the State government, the Sena-BJP alliance had yet to disburse any subsidies to the farmers. ``We demand a compensation of Rs 1 crore to the farmers. The government should see them through the sowing and harvesting operations,'' he added.

Meanwhile, Chavan evaded queries on the ongoing problems within the State Congress stating that the MPCC had not been authorised by the AICC to either issue show cause notices toten MLAs who signed on the nomination forms of Arun Mehta who contested the Legislative Council forms as an Independent candidate. The AICC had also not delegated responsibility for further disciplinary action to the MPCC, he said.