West Bengal govt offers Rs 69 cr relief to rain-hit farmers

West Bengal government today announced a relief of Rs 69 crore to farmers who have suffered crop damage between February and April.
The state government in a statement said that severe hailstorm and rains caused damage to different crops to the tune of Rs 903 crore in most of the districts in the state during the second week fortnight of February and 1st week of April, 2015.
"The cropped area got affected is 33 per cent totalling 50,600 hectares," the statement said.
Concerned about the farmers, the state government will be disbursing Rs 69 crore under State Disaster Response Fund and the same will be offered to eligible farmers, it said.

The financial assistance will be Rs 1,800 per bigha (Rs 13,500 per hectare) for irrigated areas while for perennial crop area will be Rs 2,400 per bigha (Rs 18,000 per hectare).
The Directorate of agriculture has been entrusted with the task of chalking out the disbursing plan to the affected farmers.