Haryana govt increases compensation amount for crop damage

Chandigarh,  The Haryana government on Monday announced to increase the compensation amount given to farmers for crop damage caused, including due to the vagaries of weather.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that for the welfare of farmers, the compensation amount given for more than 75 per cent of the crop damage has been increased from Rs 12,000 per acre to Rs 15,000 per acre.
“For another slab, the compensation of Rs 10,000 which was given earlier has also been increased to Rs 12,500 now, while a 25 per cent increase has been effected for the remaining slabs (for compensation amounts below Rs 10,000),” Khattar said.
The chief minister made this announcement during the launch of a modern cooperative sugar mill in Karnal built at a cost of Rs 263 crore.
Khattar said the Haryana government is giving the highest crop compensation across the country. However, as there was no increase in this amount since few years, so it has been enhanced further, he added.
The chief minister called upon the farmers to get their crop insured.
He said that two days ago, the government had announced that the farmers having up to two acres of land will not have to pay crop insurance premium, while for the farmers having land between 2-5 acres, the government has decided to pay half the premium.
The farmers having land more than five acres will have to get the crop insured themselves, he said, as per an official statement.
The chief minister said there are 11 cooperative sugar mills in the state.
The government is constantly making efforts to reduce the losses being faced by these sugar mills, he said.
Power generation plants and ethanol plants are being set up in these mills, he said.
Khattar said doubling the income of farmers is the main goal of the government.
The government is constantly encouraging progressive farmers. Along with this, other farmers are also being encouraged to start fruit and vegetable farming, he said.
Khattar appealed to farmers not to burn crop residue.
Burning stubble increases air pollution, he said.
Meanwhile, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, whose party JJP is a coalition partner of the BJP in Haryana, described the decision of the state government to increase the compensation amount for crop damage as a welcome step and said it should compensate the farmers to a great extent.
Chautala said that considering the demand of the farmers, the state government has decided to increase the compensation amount to Rs 15,000 per acre in case the crop of paddy, wheat, sugarcane and cotton if the damage is more than 75 percent.
About paddy procurement, Chautala said that due to Diwali festival, the procurement was stopped for a few days, but from November 8, it has resumed and will continue till November 15.
He informed that while 50.30 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured till November 2, 2020, during the corresponding period of this year, 51.50 lakh tonnes have been procured.
He said that after purchasing paddy by various agencies, Rs 8,900 crore has so far been credited to the accounts of the farmers. PTI