MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government gave a New Year gift to its farmers by increasing compensation to rain-affected farmers on Thursday. According to Maharashtra government’s issued notification, the non-irrigated land owning farmers will now get Rs 13,600 against earlier Rs 6,800 for per hectare damaged crops.
The irrigated farmers will now get Rs 27,000 against earlier Rs 13,500 per hectare damage. The orchid farmers will get Rs 36,000 compensation against earlier Rs 18,000 compensation per hectare damage. The govt will give maximum compensation up to three hectares of damage against earlier two hectares of damaged crops.
The state has earmarked Rs 5,439 crore fund for allocation and disbursement for damage to crops owned by farmers in the state. Maharashtra government has received the demand for compensation region-wise. The Amaravati region has put up the demand of Rs 1,862 crore, while Nagpur region has asked for Rs 314 crore while Pune region has demanded Rs 46 crore as additional funds to pay the farmers whose crops were damaged in unseasonal rain in the state.
As per government criteria for compensation, in any place in the last 24 hour there should be 60 5MM rainfall record and for the same reason the damage should be more than 33%, then only the compensation to farmers will be given as per new rates.
Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar on Thursday said that he has instructed the crop insurance companies to distribute the pending compensation to farmers whose crops were damaged in rain. The compensation is given under the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance scheme, there are a total 57,19,167 beneficiaries farmers in Maharashtra. So far, the total amount Rs 1,966 crore to 43,86,763 farmers has been disbursed to farmers by insurance companies. The remaining amount will be also transferred into the farmers accounts.