The district administration of Udham Singh Nagar has demanded an additional amount of Rs86 crore from the State Government to provide relief to the farmers whose crops have been damaged due to unseasonal rain across the district this year.
According to the district administration, Udham Singh Nagar, an amount of Rs70 lakh has already been disbursed among 7,000 such farmers i.e. Rs1000 to each farmer who have lost their crops due to bad weather conditions this season.
So, after disbursement of an amount of Rs70 lakh, a letter has been written to the State Government demanding an additional amount of Rs86 crore, maintained the officials concerned of Udham Singh Nagar district administration.
Udham Singh Nagar is the largest wheat producing district of the Kumaon division. But the officials concerned of the district agriculture department, Udham Singh Nagar informed that this Terai district of Uttarakhand, Udham Singh Nagar, has suffered damage of wheat crop in about 58,000 hectare land this Rabi season.
This aside, the quality of wheat grain has been also poor due to the bad weather conditions this year, added the officials.
The fact is that poor quality of wheat has also had an adverse impact on its procurement this season. Only about 636.90 metric tonne (mt) of wheat has been collected in Udham Singh Nagar till recently, since the wheat procurement season commenced in April, against a target of 1.35 lakh metric tonne (mt) of wheat from Udham Singh Nagar this season.
Out of 636.90 mt of wheat collected, the food and civil supply department has procured 3.60 mt while 602.30 mt has been procured by the cooperative department from different parts of the said district, said the officials.
Wheat is being purchased from the farmers at Rs1,450 per quintal this season, they further said.
Apart from poor quality of wheat, better prices being offered by the traders for per quintal in the open market also seems one of the major factors behind poor collection of wheat at the Government- run procurement centres, set up across Udham Singh Nagar.