Unseasonal rains: Rs 10k cr relief to suffering farmers

Unseasonal rains: Rs 10k cr relief to suffering farmers

MUMBAI/PUNE: Farmers in Maharashtra whose crops have been damaged due to unseasonal rains will be immediately provided compensation. A provision of Rs 10,000 crore has been made for providing financial assistance to them and the decision was taken by a sub-committee of state cabinet led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Fadnavis had already issued instructions for assessment and ‘panchnamas’ of farmers who have been badly affected. The administration and officials of various departments are involved in carrying out the panchnamas, he said.
 
Fadnavis also directed that in the areas where government or the assessing department cannot reach for assessment or carrying out panchnama due to technical reasons, farmers can upload the photos of crop loss on mobile/WhatsApp and it will be considered as an evidence. Crop-wise reimbursement will be decided as soon as the damage report is received and the amount of reimbursement will be directly transferred to the farmers’ account. A proposal will be sent to the Central government requesting financial aid to address this calamity. However, the State government will not solely depend on the Central government’s help and will provide financial aid form its own funds. 

The compensation of loss to crops will be directly deposited in the accounts of the farmers.
 
The extended rainfall in October has damaged the kharif crops. According to the primary reports, 54.22 lakh hectares of farmland in 325 talukas have been affected. 

Kharif crops such as jowar, maize, paddy, tur, cotton, soyabean and fruits have suffered extensive damage.
 
One of the worst affected crops are soyabean and cotton as almost 19 lakh hectare area of both these crops has been damaged. Other kharif crops such as maize of around 5 lakh hectare while bajra on 2 lakh hectares has been damaged. 

For this job, the human resources from the revenue department, agriculture department, agriculture colleges, animal husbandry and other departments had been pressed into the service for carrying out the assessment of affected areas. 

Insurance scheme announced
According to the agriculture department, an insurance scheme for fruits such as grapes, mangoes, lime, pomegranate, banana, oranges and cashew has been announced and this will be implemented in 30 districts of the state in four phases.
Phase 1: Solapur, Ahmednagar, Jalna, Pune, Palghar, Satara, Nanded, Nagpur and Yavatmal
Phase 2: Sangli, Aurnagabad, Dhule, Amravati, Akola, Kolhapur, Sindhudurg and Nandurbar
Phase 3: Jalgaon, Buldhana, Latur, Raigad, Osmanabad, Ratnagiri and Parbhani
Phase 4: Beed, Thane, Nashik, Wardha, Washim and Hingoli

Last date for applying for insurance
Grapes, lime and banana: November 7
Oranges, cashew and mango in Konkan:November 30
Mango:     December 31
Pomegranate: January 14, 2020

Division    Talukas        Area Damaged
Konkan           46        97K hectare
Nashik            52        16L hectares
Pune               51        1.36L hectares
Aurangabad    72        22L hectare
Amravati         56        12L hectares
Nagpur           48        40K hectares
 

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