Gujarat govt says Rs 546-crore relief package for farmers to cover crop loss

The Gujarat government on Wednesday pegged at Rs 546 crore the overall size of the financial package announced a day earlier for farmers of four districts of the Saurashtra region who suffered crop loss due to heavy rains last month.

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government on Wednesday pegged at Rs 546 crore the overall size of the financial package announced a day earlier for farmers of four districts of the Saurashtra region who suffered crop loss due to heavy rains last month. On Tuesday, the state government had announced that affected farmers of four districts - Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagadh and Porbandar - would be given a compensation of Rs 13,000 per hectare with a limit of two hectares if the crop loss was equal or above 33 per cent due to excessive rains.

On Wednesday, the state government announced that the overall size of the relief package was Rs 546 crore, which was approved by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel at a state Cabinet meeting, an official release said. As per the release, nearly 2.82 lakh farmers of 662 villages of the four affected districts will be covered under the relief package. Since the limit of compensation under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) is Rs 6,800 per hectare, the difference of Rs 6,200 per hectare (out of total Rs 13,000) would be paid from the state budget, it said.

If the landholding is less than one hectare, the minimum compensation will be Rs 5,000, said the release. Eligible farmers are required to submit an online application with all required details and scanned documents such as Aadhaar and bank account number before October 25 to get the compensation, it said.

In case of a landowner's death, any one family member mentioned in the land records will be given the financial aid subject to certain conditions, said the release. Since considerable rainfall was also recorded in other parts of Gujarat after September, the state government has initiated a survey to assess crop loss in other districts too, such as Ahmedabad, Botad, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Bharuch, Surendranagar, Panchmahal and Chhotaudepur, it said.
Affected farmers of these districts will also be covered under the relief package after the crop loss assessment exercise was completed, said the release.

PTI