TN seeks Rs 19,665-cr drought compensation

Memorandum to the Centre includes compensation of Rs 9,286.20 cr towards damage suffered by agriculture sector

The Tamil Nadu government has decided to seek Rs 19,665 crore compensation from Centre, for the losses the state suffered due to drought.

Making a statement under Rule 110 in the state assembly on Saturday, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said, “Soon we will be sending a memorandum with various components to the Centre”.

This includes compensation of Rs 9,286.20 crore towards damages suffered by the agriculture sector and losses by Tangedco (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation) to the tune of Rs 2,661.32 crore.

It also covers the Rs 1,376.71 crore crop-loss suffered by farmers, Rs 2,424.47 crore towards employment guarantee scheme, Rs 1,195.79 crore towards implementing drinking water scheme, Rs 333.60 crore for non meal scheme, and Rs 550 crore to distribute 792,000 metric tonne of rice through the public distribution scheme and to implement other schemes.

“Overall, we will submit a memorandum to the Centre seeking Rs 19,665.13 crore towards drought,” said Jayalalithaa.

On Saturday, she also announced a Rs 1,754.86-crore relief package to non-Cauvery Delta districts on the lines of one given to Delta districts in February this year.

The state government has already announced 31 of the 32 districts, except Chennai, as drought-hit following failure of north-east and south-west monsoons.

The state government has constituted a high-level committee to assess the drought situation and provide necessary relief measures to the drought-affected areas in Tamil Nadu. Based on the committee’s report, all districts except Chennai were declared as drought-affected and a relief assistance of Rs 542.04 crore was sanctioned to the affected farmers at 15,000 an acre (Rs 5,000 under calamity relief fund and Rs 10,000 as special Cauvery relief, inclusive of insurance amount).