The Calamity Management machinery of the Chhattisgarh Government has gone into full gear with commencement of the work for distribution of a total of Rs 200 crore as relief to farmers whose crops have been ravaged by unseasonal rains in as many as 13 districts of the State.
Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday called an emergency meeting at the Mantralaya in Naya Raipur and extensively deliberated upon the relief measures to be taken for farmers and villagers in the wake of problems caused by the unseasonal rains in State. On Chief Minister's directives and under the provisions of Revenue Book Circular, Revenue and Calamity Management Department have allotted Rs 200 crore to the districts for distribution as relief amount to the calamity-affected farmers, after survey of the loss incurred by them is completed, officials in the meeting informed.
Singh instructed the officials concerned to carry out the survey on the loss of Rabi crops on a war footing. The survey is being conducted by the joint teams of Patwaris and Rural Agricultural Expansion Officers. The Chief Minister directed district collectors and officials of Agriculture and Food Department to visit affected-areas of their respective districts and take necessary relief measures for the victims.
Singh also issued necessary instructions to the officials concerned for proper storage of paddy stock in procurement centers and warehouses of cooperative societies. He expressed grave concern over the loss of Rabi crops incurred by farmers due to the natural calamity. Singh said that State Government will extend every possible support to the farmers and villagers in this time of crisis.
The Chief Minister directed officials concerned that the affected farmers should be benefitted under ‘Weather-based Crop Insurance Scheme.’ This scheme is being implemented in 13 districts of the state namely Raipur, Balodabazar-Bhatapara, Gariaband, Rajnandgaon, Sarguja, Surajpur, Balrampur-Ramanujganj, Durg, Bemetara, Balod, Kabeerdham, Bilaspur and Mungeli, as pilot project for Rabi crops (wheat and grams) of year 2013-14.
Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand informed in the meeting that on Chief Minister's instructions, he convened a meeting of all divisional commissioners and district collectors through video conferencing from Mantralaya on March 2 and reviewed the prior-arrangements to tackle this natural calamity. He also informed the officials about the State Government's instructions in the context. Officials were instructed to form joint survey teams of Patwaris and Rural Agriculture Expansion Officers at earliest, and to ensure completion of the survey of loss incurred at war-footing.
Revenue Department Secretary KR Pisda informed the Chief Minister that as per the provisions of Revenue Book Circular, the calamity-affected farmers, who have incurred loss of more than 50 per cent, are provided relief funds at the rate of Rs 4500 for non-irrigated area and at Rs 9000 for irrigated area. During the meeting, the Chief Minister reviewed the entire arrangements for lifting and storage of paddy stock procured from farmers in Kharif Marketing Year 2013-14, through procurement centers of cooperative societies in the State.
Food Secretary Vikassheel informed the Chief Minister that this year, nearly 80 lakh tonnes of paddy had been procured at support price through societies. lifting of paddy from procurement centers for custom milling is also in process. Daily 50,000-60,000 metric tons of paddy is lifted by rice millers and MarkFed, he stated. Rice Millers will produce rice out of this paddy stock and supply the same to State Civil Supply Corporation and Food Corporation of India. Presently, MarkFed is transporting the consignment of paddy from procurement centers to storage centers. But for now, storage centers have not been opened for the millers, until the entire consignment of paddy is transported from societies, he stated.
At present, procurement centers have 19 lakh tonnes of paddy while storage centers have 19.76 lakh tonnes of paddy available. District Collectors have been instructed to make arrangements for safe storage of this stock and to expedite the lifting of paddy for milling. Nearly Rs 14.57 crore has been provided in advance at the rate of Rs 2 per quintal, through State Cooperative Marketing Federation, for ensuring safe storage of paddy stock. The stock of paddy wetted due to the untimely rains, will be dried and supplied to millers for production of Usna rice, an official press release issued here stated.
The State Agriculture Department had issued notification for ‘Weather-based Crop Insurance Scheme’ on September 26, 2013. Under this scheme, all the Tehsils of aforementioned 13 districts will be benefitted and provided with the compensation as per Revenue Book Circular.
The ‘Weather-based Crop Insurance Scheme’ particularly covers the registered indebted farmers of cooperative committees, while for non-indebted farmers it is optional. Agriculture Insurance Company of India, ICICI, lombard General Insurance and HDFC-Irgo General Insurance are jointly operating this crop insurance scheme. The State Government has already deposited the premium tuning to Rs 26.88 crores for crop insurance.
In the meeting, Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand, Principal Secretaries to Chief Minister N Baijendra Kumar and Aman Kumar Singh, Secretary to Food and Civil Supply Department Vikassheel, Secretary Revenue and Calamity Management Department KR Pisda, Managing Director of Subodh Singh, Secretary Agriculture Department Devendra Singh and Director PR Kridutt, Managing Director of MarkFed SK Jaiswal and other senior officials concerned were also present.