Ahead of the state Assembly elections, likely to be held in October, the Maharashtra government on Monday announced a relief package for rehabilitation of flood-affected victims in Western Maharashtra and the Konkan. It includes limited loan waiver to farmers, financial help for construction of houses, relocation of families within floodline areas and concession in filing Income Tax returns and GST.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis chaired the first meeting of the cabinet sub-committee appointed to review the rehabilitation of flood-affected families from Sangli, Kolhapur, Satara, districts in the Konkan, Nashik and other parts of the state.
Besides an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the victim’s next of kin, medical help to the injured and temporary shelter that has already been extended to flood-affected people, the state announced a package.
Fadnavis said the state will waive off loan for 2019-20 to farmers with up to 1 hectare of land. The limited loan waiver will be in accordance with the eligibility of the loan. Farmers who have not taken any loans and suffered crop loss, would get compensation according to National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) norms, and the state will offer them three times more than what they are eligible for. NDRF norms have the provision of crop loss compensation at Rs 6,800 per hectare to non-irrigated land and Rs 13,500 per hectare for irrigated land.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, with a Central grant of Rs 1.5 lakh and state government grant of Rs 1 lakh, the state will also re-construct collapsed houses or those which are on the verge of collapsing owing to the floods. Till these houses are constructed, the state has announced a maximum transit rental of Rs 2,000 per month in rural areas and Rs 3,000 per month in urban areas for a year. “The remaining funding will come from NGOs. We have decided to enter into a tripartite agreement with organisations for the adoption of villages. Thirty-eight of 104 affected villages in Sangli have been adopted for rehabilitation so far,” said Subhash Deshmukh, relief and rehabilitation minister.
{{/usCountry}}Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, with a Central grant of Rs 1.5 lakh and state government grant of Rs 1 lakh, the state will also re-construct collapsed houses or those which are on the verge of collapsing owing to the floods. Till these houses are constructed, the state has announced a maximum transit rental of Rs 2,000 per month in rural areas and Rs 3,000 per month in urban areas for a year. “The remaining funding will come from NGOs. We have decided to enter into a tripartite agreement with organisations for the adoption of villages. Thirty-eight of 104 affected villages in Sangli have been adopted for rehabilitation so far,” said Subhash Deshmukh, relief and rehabilitation minister.
{{/usCountry}}The state will also rehabilitate families that are within the flood or blue line of the water bodies.
According to estimates by the divisional commissioner office, 1,519 houses completely collapsed, while 19,780 sustained partial damage in five districts of Pune division, while 579 cowsheds sustained damages in five districts. State will request union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to defer the deadline of I-T return and filing of GST for small-time traders and balutedars who suffered losses in the floods. “The traders and vendors will be given 75% of their losses, up to Rs 50,000 as compensation. We will request banks to reschedule loans given to small-time traders,” Fadnavis said. The state has already sought a relief package of Rs 6,813 crore from the Centre. It constituted a multi-disciplinary expert committee to study climate change, reasons for flooding and measures to avoid it in the future.
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