Bhopal
The Madhya Pradesh government organized a programme to provide relief to the farmers affected by the hailstorm and untimely rains in January 2022.
Based on the survey carried out by the state authorities, it is estimated that the rains damaged crops in an area of 1,34,019 hectares. As a result, the government under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took a landmark decision to provide a financial assistance package of Rs 202.9 crores to more than 1,46,000 affected farmers. This was stated in a state government press release.
Chouhan attended the programme via video-conferencing, as he is recuperating from Covid-19. While interacting with the farmers, he discussed various issues of concern like damage of crops, crop survey, government’s decision to provide financial assistance, issues concerning farmers, and development of agriculture in the state.
Speaking on the occasion, Chouhan said, “I am grateful to all my farmer brothers and sisters because of whom we are consistently moving towards achieving the dream of AtmaNirbhar Madhya Pradesh. It is because of your toil and sweat that we have become number one in agriculture. It is my promise to you that my government will stand with you through tough times. We will provide all the necessary financial assistance to you, and to this end, we will leave no stone unturned.”
He also said that in the last two years we have disbursed a relief amount of more than Rs 29,000 crores to our farmers. He also commended the efforts made by the state authorities in ensuring a fair survey of the damage caused by the hailstorm and untimely rain in 26 districts in January 2022.
The Chief Minister also took stock of the damaged crops of mustard, wheat, gram and masur, and assured to provide relief to the farmers after assessing the damage caused to the crops in the affected villages of Vidisha, Rajgarh, Niwari, and Ashoknagar districts.
Recently, on February 2, Chouhan had disbursed more than Rs 7,600 crores against 49 lakh claims made by the farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), at a historic event held in Betul. This is the largest-ever direct benefit transfer (DBT) disbursal carried out by any state government in the country, said the press release.
This crop insurance covered claims for Kharif 2020 and Rabi 2020-21 crops. Earlier, the release said, Rs 2,876 crore had been deposited in the accounts of farmers owing to crop damage. So far, Rs 10,494 crore assistance has been released by the state government to the farmers.