In Rahul's Amethi, rain-hit farmers still wait for relief

State govt has asked district collectors to ensure a 100% distribution of relief among farmers

Even as Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi recently held a 'kisan panchayat' in Delhi and zealously raised farmers' issues in Parliament, the farmers in his Amethi parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh have received less than 50% relief from the state government.

Interestingly, Rampur is another high profile district in the league of Amethi with the dubious distinction, despite the fact that it is the fiefdom of powerful UP cabinet minister Mohd Azam Khan.

The other UP districts, where the distribution of relief to farmers hit by un-seasonal spells of rain and hailstorms this year, are Mahoba, Moradabad, Unnao, Mathura, Bulandshahar, Ballia, Gorakhpur, Sambhal, Hathras and Shamli.

Their districts magistrates (DMs) have been sternly warned by the government to ensure 100t% distribution of relief within three days lest strict action is taken against them.

Following the massive destruction of rabi crops and the reported suicides by distressed farmers' in UP, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has been keeping a close watch on the relief measures and distribution of compensation.

Of the total 75 districts in UP, 67 districts have been worst hit from the nature's fury in recent weeks of downpour and hailstorms.

The state government has demanded Rs 6,677 crore from the Centre to compensate the farmers' against crop loss.

On April 24, a meeting with the concerned DMs via video conferencing to review the progress of relief work would be held.

So far, the state government has released Rs 1,135 crore towards farmers' relief payment, but only Rs 602 crore has so far been disbursed to 1.38 million farmers. The slow pace of relief work has attracted the ire of Yadav, who has just returned from an official visit to Germany.

Besides, an amount of Rs 3.18 crore had been given as urgent relief in distressed farmers' loss of life over crop damage.

Of the over 14 million hectares (MH) of cultivated land in these 67 districts, an area of over 9.5 MH had been affected. Of the affected area, almost 5.5 MH hectares had recorded loss of over 33% making it eligible for receiving relief from the government.

The worst affected crop is wheat cultivated over an area of over 4 MH. Other affected crops include gram, mustard, peas, potato etc.

The state government has directed the institutional finance department for rescheduling the crop loan taken by farmers and providing them relief under the crop insurance scheme.