Union govt to provide violence hit Manipur ₹38.06 crore to compensate farmers

Manipur’s agriculture commissioner RK Dinesh said that their priority now is to speed up the process of releasing the money to the farmers by November

The Union government has accepted Manipur’s proposal of ₹38.06 crore compensation for the farmers affected by the ethnic conflict in the state that has since May 3 left over 175 dead and around 50,000 displaced, an official said on Monday.

Ethnic conflict in the state has since May 3 left over 175 dead and around 50,000 displaced. (AFP)

State’s agriculture commissioner RK Dinesh said their priority now is to speed up the process of releasing the money to the farmers by November.

The protracted violence has affected paddy cultivation. Officials said farmers have been unable to cultivate at least 5,127 hectares of the state’s 1.95 lakh hectares of agricultural land. Bishnupur has been among the worst-hit districts.

Dinesh said the number of farmers to be compensated will be subjected to verification at the district level.

A survey of Loumee Shinmee Apunba Lup, a farmers’ body, found around 9,719 hectares of paddy fields faced crop failure as farmers were afraid to go into the fields because of sporadic firing.

Inadequate rainfall has also worsened the crisis. “We are trying to increase the area of irrigated land as a long-term plan by introducing tube wells and ponds. For that purpose, our scheme funds have been enhanced by ₹70 crore by the central government.”