Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said Delhi government will provide compensation to ‘Sarso (mustard) farmers’ from January month faced loss due to unseasonal rains of late.
Kejriwal handed over compensation cheques to farmers who suffered crop damage due to rains, he added Delhi’s farmers are getting the highest amount of compensation all over India. As of now, a total of `55.35 crores will be paid by the Kejriwal Government to the farmers in lieu of the crop damage.
He also ordered officers to conduct survey about farmers suffering loss due to crop damage. “We made sure to provide compensation as soon as possible,” Kejriwal said.
“Farmers were totally absent from the governance systems of Delhi before AAP came to power; former CMs and ministers didn’t even know farming happens in Delhi. If crops have suffered less than 70% damage, we’ll pay at the rate of 70% compensation; if more, we’ll pay as per 100% rates. When the pink bollworm infested cotton crops of Punjab, their Government announced a mere 12,000 as compensation and hasn’t paid even that amount. This country will not progress until and unless all state or Union Governments start respecting our farmers. I am not just the CM of Delhi; I am the son of all the farmers of Delhi; I will always stand by our annadata,” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister said.
Kejriwal said, “Back in 2013, when we had just made our party, there was a thunderstorm that ruined crops in Delhi. When a journalist approached the then Chief Minister, she asked whether farming even took place in Delhi.
A CM who ruled for 15 years did not know that farming takes place in Delhi. This added to the woes of the farmers. They felt insulted. It showed how the farmers were absent from the whole governance system of Delhi. You could not expect the Government to help the farmers when the CM did not know they existed.”