Chief Minister Raman Singh has assured farmers of drought-affected regions of the State that the Government is there to support them in these difficult times of natural calamity.
He requested farmers not to panic in these difficult times or take any drastic step like suicide.
The Chief Minister said that he himself comes from a farmer family, which is why he totally understands and identify with the pain of farmers.
Government will take every possible step to support drought-affected farmers, he said.
Notably, a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday had decided to declare 17 more tehsils with yield of 50 paise or less as drought affected.
Including this, the total number of drought-affected tehsils in the State has now gone upto 110.
Earlier in the Cabinet meeting held on September 15 this year, 93 out of 150 tehsils were declared as drought affected.
The 17 tehsils that have been declared as drought-affected are Berla and Bemetara of Bemetara district, Kawardha, Bodla, Sahaspur lohara, Pandariya tehsil of Kawardha district, Baloda tehsil of Janjgir-Champa district, Jagdalpur and Bakawand tehsil of Bastar district, Kondagaon tehsil in Kondagaon district, Kanker, Naharpur, Bhanupratappur, Durgukondul, Antagarh and Charama of Kanker district, and Orchha tehsil of Narayanpur district. Relief Package proposal of nearly Rs 4 thousand crores has been sent to Central Government for relief works in all 110 drought-affected tehsils of State.
Chief Minister Raman Singh in his recent visit to Kanker district in Bastar had also stated that relief works will be started within a span of five days on receiving proposals from Gram Panchayats related to water shortage.
Under the MGNREGA scheme, the registered family members will be provided employment for 150 days.
Moreover, Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agarwal had recently stated that Tehsil farmers whose Kharif crops are damaged due to drought or other seasonal effects will receive the Seeding Funding amount till December 31.
The date is extended for the sake of farmers, officials stated.
Farmers can get the amount only from the Processing Centres functional under Seed and Agriculture Development Corporation or its cooperative societies, he said.
Agarwal said details about the Seed Funding extension can be collected from the Field Officers of the Agriculture Department.
Moreover, in yet another relief measure for the farmers in drought-hit tehsils, the Chhattisgarh Government had also decided to provide a grant to operate diesel pumps for irrigation of Kharif crops.
A circular in this regard was issued from Agriculture Department in Mantralaya to Director (Agriculture), all collectors and Deputy Director of agriculture department posted in the districts recently.
A decision for providing grant to farmers of drought-hit tehsils to operate diesel pumps for irrigation of Kharif crop was taken by Chief Minister Raman Singh while chairing cabinet meeting recently, informed Agrawal.
The circular issued from the Mantralaya to officials concerned carry information regarding grant limit, eligibility, process for grant and its payment and other details.
As per the circular, farmers of areas which recorded rainfall less that 50 per cent till July 15 and area declared drought-hit by the State Government will be eligible for the grant.
Similarly, the areas which did not receive rainfall for 15 days after July 15, 60 percent rainfall or less than 60 percent would also be entitled for the benefit. The farmer of areas belonging to tehsils declared as drought-hit by the Government and did not have irrigation facility irrigation would also be eligible for the benefit.
As per information received, the farmers who did not have diesel pumps would also be entitled to draw the benefit of Government scheme but the arrangement of pumps should be done by him. Benefits will be ensured to a farmer against two hectare land.
Chief Minister Raman Singh on September 14 had also sanctioned Rs2.69 crore for power connections to be provided to ‘non-feasible’ irrigation pumps of 344 farmers belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) community.
He was participating in the meeting of people's representatives and officers of the Scheduled Castes' Development Authority at the Mantralaya here.
There is a proposal to provide financial help for self-employment to 300 Scheduled Caste youth under the Mini Mata Swahalamban Yojana in the current financial year 2015-16.
Singh said that Rs1.50 lakh is given to an unemployed Scheduled Caste youth who is selected by the Scheduled Caste Development Authority. If there is need for extra financial assistance the youth are provided with it under the Prime Minister's Mudra Bank Yojana.
The Chief Minister said that loans amounting from Rs50,000 to Rs10 lakh is provided to the Scheduled Caste unemployed youth without any Guarantee or mortgage/hypothecation.
Singh said that the public utility ''Nal-Jal'' yojanas will not be disconnected even if the electric bills are not paid.
Orders to this effect have already been issued to the Panchayat and Rural Development Department and Energy Department.
The amount relating to the pending power bills will be cleared by the Panchayat and Rural Development Department and paid by the Gram panchayats.
The Scheduled Castes' Development Authority officials said that Rs35 crore had been allocated to the Authority for the current fiscal 2015-16.
An amount of Rs26 lakh has been sanctioned for 12 development works in the meeting .