Following a directive from chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the district administration has taken the initiative to compensate the losses of the farmers hit by cyclone Bulbul. The cyclone, which recently hit the district, has left a trail of destruction over a vast area of Hooghly. Paddy crops cultivated in 1,81,000 hectares and standing paddy on 60,611 hectares of land have been completely lost in the natural disaster. In addition, green vegetables cultivated over 8,628 hectares of land and vegetables grown over 960 hectares of agricultural land are said to have been lost in the cyclone.

Mr Mehboob Rehaman, the Zila Parishad sabhadhipati, said, “The district has received Rs 171 crores to be paid to the Bulbul cyclone affected farmers in all the 18 blocks. The minimum amount to be disbursed among the affected farmers will be rupees 1000 and maximum amount will be rupees 27,000.” A senior district agricultural officer said, “The cycloneaffected farmers can collect the compensation for the loss of the crops. They need to produce agricultural land ownership document, Aadhar card, voter identity card and bank account documents having the IFSC code.

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The affected farmers have already started collecting the loss of crop compensation application form. The service will be available till the end of the month unless there is a notice of further extension.” Mr Debasish Singh, the Haripal Panchayat Samiti karmadhyak , who is also a farmer, said, “The special initiative taken by the state chief minister to provide compensation to the cyclone affected farmers has come as a boon to us, since the destruction caused to the crops has ruined the farmers. The financially distressed farmers had lost all hope to raise new crops but the compensation amount to be provided by the state government has brightened the chances of doing so.”

Mr Pradeep Majumdar, the agricultural advisor to the state chief minister, visited Dadpur BDO office yesterday, monitoring the distribution of crop loss compensation forms among the affected farmers. “The state government had sent requisition for Rs 22,000 crores towards the compensation for the Bulbulaffected farmers but the central government has not allocated any compensation amount to the state till now…,” he said.