NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, JAN 2
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday announced Rs 600-crore relief assistance to about five lakh farmers, whose crops on 3.10 lakh plus hectares were hit due to the recent back to back cyclones in Tamil Nadu.
A norm that permitted relief only upto a maximum of two hectares has been relaxed in view of the losses suffered by ryots and the assistance shall cover loss in its entirety without any upper limit, Palaniswami said.
#NivarCyclone & #Puravicyclone புயல்களால் பாதிப்பிற்குள்ளான 5 லட்சம் விவசாய பெருமக்களின் 3,10,589.63 ஹெக்டேர் பரப்பளவிலான வேளாண் மற்றும் தோட்டக்கலை பயிர்களுக்கு 600 கோடி ரூபாய் இடுபொருள் நிவாரணமாக விவசாயிகளின் வங்கி கணக்குகளில் 7.1.2021 முதல் நேரடியாக வரவு வைக்கப்படும். pic.twitter.com/PC2I5KvVTd
— CMOTamilNadu (@CMOTamilnadu) January 2, 2021
The assistance would be directly credited to the bank accounts of farmers from January 7, he said in an official release.
Palaniswami said agricultural and horticultural crops on 3,10,589.63 hectares were affected in Tamil Nadu due to the Nivar and Burevi cyclones witnessed during November-December last year. Farmers, who bore huge production cost, were hit badly due to the storms, he added.
The Chief Minister increased aid, covered under input subsidy head, to Rs 20,000 from Rs 13,500 per hectare for rainfed and irrigated paddy and for other crops with irrigation amenities. For all rainfed crops, barring paddy, the relief assistance per hectare is raised to Rs 10,000 from the present Rs 7,410, he announced.
Similarly, the Chief Minister hiked assistance under the perennial crops category to Rs 25,000 from the present Rs 18,000 per hectare. The present slab of assistance per hectare is based on the National Disaster Relief Fund guidelines and the quantum of hike over and above the NDRF stipulation shall be borne by the state government, Palaniswami said.
Tamil Nadu has sought Rs 3,750.38 crore assistance for damage due to Nivar and Rs 1,514 crore for Burevi from the Central government. “Rs 600 crore assistance will be provided to about five lakh farmers and the benefit shall be directly transferred to their bank accounts from January 7,” he said.
