Amid report of giving a meager compensation of as low as Rs 65 to farmers Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has asked officials to give a minimum of Rs 1500 as compensation to the farmers who lost their crop because of inclement weather. Following this order Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan asked DMs to revise the compensation rate and pay minimum Rs 1500. In a terse order he said actions will be taken against the district magistrates for showing laxity in providing relief to the farmers The decision was taken after reports galore about meager compensation being paid to the farmers. It came to light some farmers received compensation cheque as low as of Rs 63 and Rs 100. Piqued over such apathy many farmers have refused compensation while others have decided not to cash the cheque.
One Mohammad Sabir of Wajidpur village of Faizabad district said the state government gave only Rs 100 as compensation for 5 bighas land. Another farmer Mohammad Shahid from the same village got Rs 63 compensation cheque against the loss of three bhigas crop. Many farmers in neighbouring Moradabad village have received cheque of Rs 186, Rs 187, Rs 188, Rs 200 and Rs 300. Interestingly, the cheques to Faizabad villagers were distributed in the presence of Social Welfare Minister Avadhesh Prasad on April 5. Faizabad’s acting District Magistrate (DM) Aravind Malappa Bangari blamed the concerned lekhpals for the carelessness.
“If any discrepancies are reported, we will rectify them,” he said. In Para Oji village in Hamirpur, five farmers got cheques of Rs 750 each. In Kanpur Dehat, a farmer got Rs 750 worth cheque of Baroda Uttar Pradesh Gramin Bank as a compensation for his crop loss. In Meerut, several farmers refused to accept cheque because of its abysmally low compensation amount. District authorities of Mathura, where the loss of crop was more than 50 per cent have demanded a compensation of Rs 331 crore while in Bareilly where the crop loss is just over 33 per cent has demanded Rs 177 crore as compensation to the farmers.
The Union government had fixed the compensation amount at Rs 4,500 per hectare in non irrigated area (where there is no government irrigation facility) and Rs 9,000 per hectare in irrigated area. The state government has announced to dole out double the amount of what the Centre offered.Ranjan ordered the district magistrate to provide a minimum compensation of Rs 1500. He said that no leave will be accepted for the district magistrate till the time situation improves, and if the officer is already on leave a new posting will be done in that specific district. He also directed the districts magistrate to compensate peasants as early as possible.
He has also requested Union Finance Secretary to release 25 per cent of Agricultural insurance so that it can be distributed among the affected farmers. He also requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to make amendments in their clauses and order banks to extend the time period for paying the loans for peasants.There are reports that over 200 farmers have died either due to shock or committed suicide but the state government has accepted only 51 deaths. Family members of the dead have been paid Rs 7 lakh as compensation.