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Gujarat CM announces ₹630 cr assistance for crop loss
The assistance package will help more than 8 lakh farmers whose crops have been damaged in an area of 9.12 lakh hectare land due to heavy rainfall in the Kharif season this year
Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday announced an assistance package to the tune of ₹630 crore for farmers to recover from financial losses incurred due to crop loss due to heavy rainfall in the Kharif season this year.
“The state is committed to stand with its farmers. The assistance package will help more than 8 lakh farmers whose crops have been damaged in an area of about 9.12 lakh hectares of land,” CM Patel said in a tweet on Friday.
This year, due to heavy rains in 14 districts, there was widespread loss of agricultural crops. Reports of crop loss in 2,554 villages of a total of 50 talukas of Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Panchmahal, Navsari, Valsad, Dang, Tapi, Surat, Kutch, Junagadh, Morbi, Porbandar, Anand and Kheda districts were received by the state government through the respective district administrations, according to a media release.
After having comprehensive assessment of these reports and keeping in view the presentations submitted by farmers, farmers’ organisations and public representatives, the chief minister took a sensitive approach and announced ₹630.34 crore rupees assistance package, it said.
Agriculture minister Raghavji Patel said in the statement that under this scheme the farmers who have suffered 33 percent and more crop loss for agricultural crops (except banana leaf) will be provided ₹6,800 assistance from State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) as well as from the state budget, within a maximum limit of two hectares of agriculture field.
While for the loss of plantain crop, a total of ₹30,000 per hectare assistance up to a maximum of two hectares (Rs.13,500 per hectare from SDRF budget plus additional assistance from state budget of Rs.16,500 per hectare) for which the provision has also been made in this package, according to the government release.
Patel added that in order to get the benefit of this package to the farmers immediately and without any delay, the entire procedure is done online and the government has created a system to open the Agricultural Relief Package portal on Digital Gujarat. The farmers can apply online along with the necessary documents at the nearest e-Gram centre.
