Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed dismay over the negligence in distributing compensation to farmers for crop damage and has sought explanations from officials in 17 districts.

Recently, the Chief Minister conducted a review of compensation and other relief measures for crops affected by various disasters. During this, he expressed dissatisfaction with the carelessness in re-verifying crop losses due to errors and not providing compensation. The CM directed officials to swiftly rectify technical deficiencies and verify cases to ensure affected farmers promptly receive compensation, officials here on Tuesday said.

It is common knowledge that the state government provides compensation and other relief to farmers only after verifying the damaged crop. However, due to technical shortcomings, the verification of crops for some farmers could not be completed. In some cases, their re-verification was not done, and as a result, some farmers could not receive the relief and compensation provided by the government. CM Yogi, stern on addressing this issue, has sought answers from officials and directed them to provide immediate compensation to the affected farmers.

During the review meeting, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath learnt that thousands of farmers who suffered crop damage in the financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23 had not received compensation due to issues with Aadhaar, account numbers, and duplication in the data-feeding process. Despite instructing officials to re-verify and provide assistance to farmers excluded from compensation, several district officials in the state failed to conduct surveys on farmers affected by damaged crops. As a result, farmers were not able to receive compensation on time. Expressing dissatisfaction, he sought explanations from the negligent 17 ADMs (Finance and Revenue) and directed strict action against them.

After the displeasure of CM Yogi, the officials took action and demanded a budget from the government for conducting a second survey of the farmers deprived of compensation in their respective districts.

Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Sudhir Garg said here on Tuesday that funds of more than Rs 35 crore have been disbursed so far to compensate the affected farmers. Besides, District Magistrates of various districts have been instructed to quickly verify farmers left out of compensation, provide guidance on the demand for funds, and ensure that no farmer is deprived of the relief.

Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) said that explanations have been sought from 17 ADMs regarding negligence after the Chief Minister issued directives in this regard. The districts include Aligarh, Hathras, Barabanki, Mau, Bareilly, Badaun, Ambedkar Nagar, Shahjahanpur, Mahoba, Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Ghaziabad, Bijnor, and Kaushambi. All ADMs have been directed to submit their explanations to the government within a week. The report, incorporating the explanations from all ADMs, will then be placed before Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for further action.

Relief Commissioner GS Navin said that more than 33 per cent of farmers affected by crop losses due to floods, hailstorms and unseasonal rainfall are being compensated. In compliance with CM Yogi’s directions, compensation funds are being transferred to the farmers’ accounts through DBT within 24 hours of the survey. It was further mentioned that in the financial year 2021-22, assistance funds exceeding Rs 5,08,31,80,715 were provided to over 13,97,480 affected farmers in 75 districts of the state. In the year 2022-23, assistance funds exceeding Rs 4,25,22,41,276 were provided to over 10,44,387 affected farmers.

Additionally, in the current financial year until January, assistance amounts of Rs 80,88,68,299 have already been distributed among more than 1,87,845 farmers.