- Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee had demanded a relief package of nearly Rs 10,000 crore for farmers
- In all, nearly 7 lakh farmers from across 6,812 villages in these 20 districts will receive assistance for the loss of their crop due to heavy rains in the month of August
- Under this package, farmers who lost equal or above 33 per cent of their total non-irrigated kharif crop will get Rs 11,000 financial assistance per hectare with two hectares set as the limit
NE AGRICULTURE BUREAU
GANDHINAGAR, OCT 23
Day after Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee had demanded a relief package of nearly Rs 10,000 crore for farmers who suffered losses due to heavy rains that lashed several parts of the state in August this year, the Gujarat government on Wednesday announced a relief package of Rs 1,419.62 crore for farmers.
Stating that the farmers’ situation was pathetic, Congress leader Lalit Kagathara on Tuesday threatened that if the state government did not announce any relief package for rain-hit farmers, his party would resort to an agitation. He also urged the state government to declare a ‘green drought’.
While Rs 1,097.31 crore will be paid from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), the state government will pay Rs 322.33 crore from the budget, an official release said on Wednesday.
The relief package was announced after a loss-assessment survey was conducted in 136 talukas of the 20 affected districts, namely – Panchmahal, Surendranagar, Navsari, Devbhumi Dwarka, Kheda, Anand, Bharuch, Vadodara, Morbi, Jamnagar, Kutch, Tapi, Dahod, Dang, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Junagadh, Surat, Patan and Chhotaudepur.
In all, nearly 7 lakh farmers from across 6,812 villages in these 20 districts will receive assistance for the loss of their crop due to heavy rains in the month of August, it said.
Under this package, farmers who lost equal or above 33 per cent of their total non-irrigated kharif crop will get Rs 11,000 financial assistance per hectare with two hectares set as the limit.
The compensation will be Rs 22,000 per hectare, with the limit of two hectares, for damage to irrigated crops.
For annual horticulture crops which live for one growing season, the government has fixed a compensation of Rs 22,000 per hectare with the same two-hectare limit if the loss is equal or above 33 per cent.
The compensation will be Rs 22,500 per hectare in case of perennial horticulture crops which live for three or more growing seasons, the release said, adding that eligible farmers need to contact nearby eGram centres with required documents to apply for it.
