Naveen demands Rs 1027 crore from Centre

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has demanded a compensation package of Rs 1,027 crore from the Centre for the farmers in the state hit by unseasonal rains.

The demand was made by Patnaik during his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi. The Prime Minister has assured Patnaik that a Central team would be sent to assess the situation.

The crop loss was experienced in around 12 lakh hectares of land in the state.

Patnaik had informed the assembly that farmers were badly affected due to heavy spell of unseasonal rain from December 6-13.

“The state government had decided to assist farmers with an ex-gratia of Rs 2,000 per hectare who suffered crop loss of more than 50 percent due to the heavy unseasonal cyclonic rains. The state government would spend Rs 240 crore on this front”, he said.

“This is over and above the agricultural input subsidy (AIS) at the rate of Rs 2,000 per hectare for rain-fed areas, Rs 4,000 per hectare for irrigated land and Rs 6,000 per hectare for perennial crops to be provided as per the norms of the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) and State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF)”, he added.

Of the Rs 900 crore, the state government would have to take the burden of Rs 600 crore while Central fund worth Rs 300 crore would come from CRF, revenue and disaster management minister, S N Patra said in the assembly.