AMN / MUMBAI
Maharashtra Government today ordered release of almost 2,300 crore rupees as compensation for the state’s flood-hit farmers. This is the first installment from the ten thousand crore rupees relief package that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had announced last month.
The compensation has been released for distribution in Nagpur, Aurangabad, Amravati, Pune, Konkan and Nashik divisions. Compensation will be paid to those who lost their kin, whose homes were destroyed, farmers who lost their standing crops, those who lost their cattle and also for fishermen.
Torrential rains that hit many parts of the state, especially Marathwada, Vidarbha and western Maharashtra destroyed lakhs of hectares of standing crops like sugarcane, soyabean, rice, lentils, pomegranate and cotton. Mr. Thackeray had announced that farmers will receive ten thousand rupees per hectare for damages incurred for rain-fed crops, while twenty five thousand rupees per hectare will be paid for loss of horticulture crops. The compensation will be limited for losses incurred only upto two hectares of land per farmer.
The State Government had promised to disburse funds before Diwali but the recent announcement of Legislative Council polls has made it difficult to distribute funds in poll-bound districts.