UP government allocates Rs 535 crore for crop loss in crucial election year
Ahead of the crucial UP Assembly elections, the Yogi Adityanath government has allocated more than Rs 535 crore to compensate farmers against crop loss owing to floods and other natural calamities during the current financial year 2021-22.
Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow
Ahead of the crucial Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly elections, the Yogi Adityanath government has allocated more than Rs 535 crore to compensate farmers against crop loss owing to floods and other natural calamities during the current financial year 2021-22.
Amid the protracted farmers’ stir over the now-repealed central farm laws, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has tried to cover an extra mile to keep the farm community in good humour in the run-up to the 2022 elections.
This manifested in prompt payment of compensation and robust procurement of staple food grains, mainly paddy and wheat, under the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism.
According to a senior UP government official, the state government has allocated more than Rs 535 crore under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to nearly 1.5 million farmers who had suffered crop loss owing to floods in 2021-22.
Now, the government has now released about Rs 38 crore to compensate farmers against massive crop damage due to widespread spells of rainfall and hailstorm in recent weeks across the state.
In his directive, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered officials to show sensitivity in matters concerning farmers, and that crop loss compensation should be paid urgently.
UP additional chief secretary, revenue, Manoj Kumar Singh, said instructions had been given to the Office of Relief Commissioner to provide details of rain-related crop damage so that compensation could be transferred directly to the bank accounts of farmers.
Untimely rainfall and hailstorm have destroyed the standing Rabi crops in the state. Currently, the farmer-wise enumeration of crop damage is being done to ascertain the actual loss in monetary terms for compensation.
