CM demands Rs. 500 crore special package from Union Govt. for calamity-affected farmers

Bhopal: Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has demanded a Rs. 500 crore special package from the Union Government for relief to calamity-affected farmers in the state. Giving information about loss to crops due to hailstorm and unseasonal rains in Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shri Chouhan has written letters to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Agriculture Minister Shri Sharad Pawar, Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram and Home Minister Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde.

In the letter, Shri Chouhan informed that Madhya Pradesh has witnessed frost, excessive rains and hailstorm from January 4 to March 17, 3013. It has caused loss to crops in 7 lakh 74 thousand 772 hectare in 13 thousand 445 village of 40 districts. Besides, 29 persons lost their lives and 200 cattle heads perished. These spells of natural calamities have caused loss to the tune of about Rs. 2 thousand crore. Assessment is still underway and figures of estimates of loss may rise further.
The Chief Minister said in the letter that relief is provided to affected farmers under State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF), but this relief will fall short in view of quantum of loss. Therefore, a Rs. 500 crore special package should also be given in addition to relief given under this head.
The Chief Minister said that the Government of India norms allow relief distribution only in cases of crop losses where crop loss is more than 50 percent while farmer in loss category of 25 to 50 percent are excluded. SDRF should also make provision for relief in cases of crop loss between 25 and 50 percent.
The Chief Minister said that the SDRF norms are in no way realistic vis-à-vis value of crop loss and therefore Madhya Pradesh government has recently increased the norms of crop loss by almost 20 percent on prevailing rates, which are already higher at 15 percent of Union Government’s norms. The existing GOI norms for relief are not based on current value of crops. It has been estimated by Agriculture Department that different crops yield between Rs. 50 thousand and Rs. 2 lakh per hectare. Therefore, it is requested that the Union Government’s norms may be revised to make them more practical.
The Chief Minister urged that wherever water is available, farmers may be provided a kit for summer crop of pulses from the money available under SDRF. He also urged to provide food grains at BPL prices to the farmers in the affected areas for 6 months. Accordingly, the Union Government should release 113820 MT of food grains at BPL prices to assist the farmers in tiding over the distress.
The Chief Minister said that the State Government is taking upon itself the responsibility of defraying interest burden for medium term conversion loan. He urged the Union Government to provide the loan restructuring facility for those farmers whose loss falls in 25-50 percent category.