Farmers in Arambagh sub-division have been at the receiving end of the weather’s wrath three times within a short period of six months, the untimely heavy downpour, followed by uncontrolled release of water from the DVC and then cyclone Dana. Ten blocks of the Arambagh sub-division have been badly affected.
Minister in charge of the panchayat and rural development department Pradip Majumder on Tuesday visited the most affected areas and also interacted with the affected farmers.
Agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay had conducted a review meeting at Hooghly district zilla parishad last week to assess the loss of paddy crops and vegetables.
The agriculture minister had said during the review that the names of the affected farmers are being enlisted and uploaded, satellite pictures have been taken of the affected agriculture land areas thereafter the agriculture officials will visit the affected agriculture land areas for spot verification to assess the loss and the compensation to be provided. The chief minister has extended the loss assessment time limit by a month. She has also said that not a single affected farmer should be deprived of the compensation for crop loss.
In Hooghly district more than 43,000 hectares of paddy crop have been lost. In more than 1,000 hectares vegetables have been lost. A primary assessment reveals that 1,83,414 farmers have been affected. In such circumstances, an initiative is in progress to bring all the affected farmers under ‘Bangla Shosho Bima’ (Bengal crop insurance policy). The most affected blocks are Arambagh, khanakul, Goghat and Dhaniakhali.
Panchayat and rural development minister Pradip Majumder on Tuesday went around the affected agriculture land and interacted with the affected farmers. He assured them of appropriate compensation for the lost crops. The minister asked the affected farmers to submit the correctly filled crop loss compensation form within this month.
At Harinkhola, the state minister held an administrative meeting with higher state and district officials. The minister was accompanied by the district magistrate Mukta Arya, zilla parishad sabhadhipati Ranjan Dhara and other higher officials.