Waking up a bit too late, the Punjab Government on Tuesday approved a policy for creating a Revolving Fund’ for relief to be given as one-time monetary assistance of Rs3 lakh to the next of kin of farmers committing suicide in the State.
The approval was given by the CM Parkash Singh Badal to the formation of ‘Revolving Fund’, to be created by the State Revenue Department, to ensure timely relief to the families of farmers who committed suicide.
The move was aimed at mitigating the sense of economic insecurity among the family besides enabling them to tide over financial distress due to the death of the sole bread winner of the family, said the spokesperson of the CM’s Office. The mother of the deceased would receive 25 per cent of the relief amount and the rest would go to the wife, said the spokesperson, adding that in case mother was not alive then full relief would be paid to the wife. He said if the wife of the deceased remarried outside the family or if she was not alive, then the amount would be paid to the children. If the deceased was unmarried or had no children, it would then be paid to the dependent parents. A committee would be formed to verify the documents to disburse the relief with the DC of the district as chairman and Chief Medical Officer, SSP and Sarpanch of victim’s village as members and Chief Agricultural Officer (CAO) as the member convener, he said.
Application for relief must be submitted within 3 months from the date of suicide to the CAO or the SDM concerned, the spokesperson said, adding that the Committee would decide the matter within one month from the date of its receipt.