Central flood relief announcement this month: Pawar
Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that the Central assistance for the areas hit by excessive rain and floods in Vidarbha and other regions of Maharashtra would be announced this month. Mr Pawar started his three-day Vidarbha visit on Saturday.
After his arrival in Nagpur, Mr Pawar said, “My visit to the affected areas in the Vidarbha region is to assess the damage done by excessive rainfall and subsequent floods, and to witness the ground reality.”
A Central team, along with district collector Saurabh Rao and other officials, visited a number of villages in Vidarbha last Wednesday and held talks with sarpanchs. Local officials, including ZP president Sandhya Gotmare, submitted a memorandum to the team about damages to crops and agriculture fields. In Hingana taluka, crops on 123 hectares of land, while in Kanholibara taluka crops on about 648 hectares, suffered damages. Officials of the Central team also visited Bhandara, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli, Amravati, Akola and Yeotmal.
Most farmers appealed to the Central team, headed by Union joint secretary, home, Gopal Reddy to increase the compensation per hectare to `25,000 per crop, instead of `5,000 for soyabean and `7,500 for paddy as announced by the state government. After assessing the damage, the Central team will submit its report, and secretaries of agriculture, finance, home and Planning Commission will sit together and finalise it before putting it before the concerned ministerial group, he added. Mr Pawar is the chairman of this group, and its other members are finance minister P. Chidambaram, home minister Sushil-kumar Shinde and deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The group will decide the quantum of Central aid.
When asked if the amount of `1,180 crore sought by the state government was sufficient for rehabilitation and compensation, Mr Pawar said that the Centre would look into that aspect.
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