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Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed dissatisfaction with the negligence in distribution of compensation for crop damage and sought explanation from officials in 17 districts.
Recently, the chief minister conducted a review of compensation and other relief measures for crops affected by various disasters. He expressed dissatisfaction with the carelessness in re-verifying crop losses due to errors and not providing compensation.
Yogi directed the officials concerned to swiftly rectify technical deficiencies and verify cases and ensure that the affected farmers promptly received compensation.
During the review meeting, Yogi came to know that thousands of farmers who suffered crop damage in the financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23 had not received compensation due to issues with Aadhaar, bank account numbers, and duplication in the data-feeding process.
Despite instructing officials to re-verify and provide assistance to farmers excluded from compensation, several district officials in the state failed to conduct surveys on the farmers affected by crop damage. As a result, the farmers were not able to receive compensation on time.
Expressing dissatisfaction, he sought explanation from 17 ADMs (finance and revenue) and called for strict action against them.
Following the displeasure of the CM, the officials took action and demanded a budget from the government by conducting a second survey of the farmers deprived of compensation in their respective districts.
Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Sudhir Garg said that funds to the tune of more than Rs 35 crore have been disbursed so far for compensation of farmers. Along with this, various district magistrates have been instructed to verify the farmers left out and provide guidance on the demand for funds, ensuring that no farmer remains deprived.
The additional chief secretary said that explanation had been sought from 17 ADMs for negligence. These districts include Aligarh, Hathras, Barabanki, Mau, Bareilly, Budaun, Ambedkar Nagar, Shahjahanpur, Mahoba, Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Ghaziabad, Bijnor, and Kaushambi.
All the ADMs have been directed to submit their explanations to the government within one week. The report, incorporating the explanations from all ADMs, will be presented to the chief minister for further action.
Relief Commissioner GS Navin said that more than 33 per cent of the farmers affected by crop losses due to floods, hailstorms and unseasonal rainfall were being compensated.
In compliance with CM Yogi’s directions, compensation funds are being transferred to the farmers’ accounts through DBT within 24 hours of the survey. It was further mentioned that in the financial year 2021-22, assistance funds exceeding Rs 5,08,31,80,715 were provided to over 13,97,480 farmers in 75 districts of the state.
In the year 2022-23, assistance funds exceeding Rs 4,25,22,41,276 were provided to over 10,44,387 farmers.