Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday personally handed over cheques for varying amounts as compensation to a few farmers whose crops got damaged due to unseasonal rain in October 2021, in the national capital. The remaining farmers too would get the compensation for the loss to their crops soon, he declared.
The Chief Minister said the compensation was calculated at the rate of Rs 20,000 per acre. Some farmers got over Rs 3 lakhs and others less than Rs 1 lakh.
When some farmers pointed out that their mustard crop was damaged due to the unseasonal rain in January, he immediately ordered a survey for the purpose to determine the amount of compensation to be paid to the affected farmers.
According to officials, there are around 45,000 farmers who would be benefited by the government’s decision. A total of Rs 55 crore will be distributed among the affected farmers for the loss caused to their crops due to last October’s unseasonal rain.
Kejriwal said the compensation was calculated by adopting a simple formula.
“70 per cent compensation will be given in the case of less than 70 per cent loss and 100 per cent compensation for a crop loss of over 70 per cent. The rate for calculating the compensation will be Rs 20,000 per acre”, he pointed out.
The Chief Minster claimed that before the formation of his party’s government in Delhi, the city’s farmers had “no place in governance” or the scheme of things of the government. He mentioned an incident of 2013 when Delhi had a Congress government to prove that the then Chief
Minister did not know if the national capital had the farming
community too.
Kejriwal said there was a demand for giving compensation for the loss to the cotton crop suffered by Punjab farmers too, but the compensation money was yet to reach them.
It was not possible for any country or state to prosper if it did not take care of its farmers’ interests, he added.