Bhopal, March 21 (IANS) Unseasonal rain and hailstorms played havoc with farmers in Madhya Pradesh as their standing crops were damaged. Rain accompanied by gusty winds has been pounding the western and northern parts of the state for the last four days at intervals.
The rain continued on Tuesday as well in districts such as Rewa, Dindori, Anuppur, Betul, Damoh, Chhatarpur, Agar, Mandsaur, Rajgarh, Jabalpur.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been visiting the farmers whose crops have been damaged and directed the district revenue officials to conduct a survey of the damaged crops in each district of the state.
Chouhan, who visited Vidisha to inspect the damaged crops on Tuesday, announced financial assistance of Rs 32,000 per hectare for crop loss of over 50 percent due to the hailstorms and rain.
Beside this, the government has also announced aid of Rs 37,000 for the loss of cows-buffaloes, Rs 4,000 on the loss of sheep and goats, Rs 2000 for calf-heifer and Rs 100 for the loss of chicken/hen.
He informed that the first phase of the survey of damaged crops has been completed and the second phase was underway. Once the survey was done, a list of farmers would be released at the village level. Chouhan said that the date of recovery of the loans of the farmers will be extended and the interest will be paid by the government.
Later, the Chief Minister claimed that the state government was providing the highest compensation for damaged crops. “Madhya Pradesh is the leading state in the country in distribution of relief amount for crop damage. Farmers are not provided with such a huge amount in other states of India,” the Chief Minister said during a review meeting with ministers and senior officials in Bhopal.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress raised the issue in the Assembly and demanded adequate compensation for the farmers for their crop loss.
–IANS
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