Making a poignant appeal Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has asked farmers, who lost their crops in the recent rains and hail storm, not to take any extreme step and have faith on the state government. “The farmers should not feel disheartened. The Government is alive to their problems. They should not feel discouraged. The state government will extend all possible help to the farmers,” Yadav said on Friday.
At least 41 farmers have lost their lives in last one and half month due to shock after witnessing loss of the crop due to rains. The situation is so bad that the state government has declared calamity and has sought over Rs 6600 crore from the Union Government as relief to be distributed as compensation among farmers.
Yadav said that Samajwadi Party Government is with them in their bad times. “Compensation distribution has started. Government has eased rules on purchase of wheat. They will not have to pay cleaning and willowing charge,” he said. The state government has so far distributed about Rs 831 crore as compensation among 17.58 lakh farmers spread over in 67 districts. Government estimate says of 14021 lakh hectare land on which crop was sown, rains has destroyed crop in 95.173 lakh hectare. This loss is 33 per cent more as per the government limit.
Crop like wheat, gram, potato, pulses and linseed was destroyed in this rain. The districts that have been affected by rains are: Mahoba, Hamirpur, Chitrakut, Pilibhit, Banda, Kannauj, Mirzapur, Allahabad, Saharanpur, Budaun, Azamgarh, Sonbhadra, Unnao, Agra, Kanpur, Amethi, Etawah, Fatehpur, Firozabad, Jhansi, lalitpur, Aurriya, Muzaffarnagar, lakhimpur Khiri, , Pratapgarh, Faizabad, Moradabad, Kanpur Dehat, Rampur, Farrukhabad, Bareilly, Shahajahanpur, Mathura, Kushinagar, Etah, Bulanshahar, Ballia, Gorakhpur, Sambhal, Hapur, GB Nagar, Hathras, Shamli, Mainpuri, Aligarh, Kasganj, Kaushambi, Bahraich, Barabanki, Suntanpur, Baghpat, lucknow, Ghazipur, Ghaziabad, Rae Bareli, Jaunpur, Varanasi, Amroha, Hardoi, Ambedkar Nagar, Mau, Meerut, Sitapur, Deoria, Chandoli and Hardoi.