He said his government adopted a simple formula for fixing compensation to avoid any problems in its payment.
Highlights
- Kejriwal noted that Punjab is yet to compensate farmers for crop loss
- The chief minister said he was like a son and brother of farmers in Delhi
- Rs 55.35 crore will be distributed for an approximate area of 30,000 acres of crops that were damaged
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday handed over compensation to farmers whose crops were damaged due to unseasonal rains in October last year. He also announced that a survey to assess loss to mustard and other crops in January will be started soon to fix compensation.
Stating that no country or state can prosper if it doesn’t honor and help farmers, Kejriwal noted that Punjab is yet to compensate farmers for crop loss. “The pink bollworm infested cotton crops of Punjab where the state government announced a mere Rs 12,000 per acre compensation and hasn’t paid even that amount,” he said.
He said his government adopted a simple formula for fixing compensation to avoid any problems in its payment. In case of less than 70 percent losses, 70 percent compensation and 100 percent compensation in case of over 70 percent loss has been fixed at the rate of Rs 20,000 per acre, he said.
The chief minister said he was like a son and brother of farmers in Delhi and the doors of his government were always open for them.
An amount of Rs 55.35 crore will be distributed for an approximate area of 30,000 acres of crops that were damaged due to unseasonal rain in October, said a government statement. Kejriwal said farmers figured nowhere in the governance in Delhi before AAP came to power, citing how a chief minister in 2013 expressed surprise that farming was practiced in the national capital.
“A CM who ruled for 15 years did not know that farming takes place in Delhi. It showed how the farmers were absent from the whole governance system of Delhi. You couldn’t expect the government to help the farmers when the CM did not know they existed.” The AAP after coming to power in Delhi ensured payment of compensation to farmers of Rs 20,000 per acre. The amount was transferred within 2-3 months to their accounts, he said.
The chief minister handed over bank checks of compensation amounts to the farmers in a ceremony held at Delhi Secretariat. Kejriwal went down the stage to hand over check to an elderly farmer who found it difficult to manage the stairs.
The chief minister noted that some states even paid as low as Rs 10-20 to the farmers suffering crop losses, saying it was an insult rather than help. He said the Delhi government has paid respectable amounts that ranged from over two lakh to three and a half lakh in case of some affected farmers. Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot and Chief Secretary Vijay Dev hoped that the officers concerned will ensure the earliest payment of compensation amounts to the affected farmers.
“Arvind Kejriwal is the only Chief Minister in the country who understands the plight of farmers and supports them when they are in trouble. No government in the country has ever paid a compensation of Rs 20,000 per acre,” Gahlot said. The eligibility conditions for compensation laid down that the claimant must be a recorded owner of the land that must not be vested with Gram Sabha. which are in the nature of plots with pukka boundary walls, will not be entitled to it, said the statement.
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