Tamil Nadu CM Declares Financial Assistance to Farmers Impacted by Depletion of Crops

On Monday, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said, the Tamil Nadu government will provide ₹ 1,116.97 crore as input relief to around 11.43 lakh farmers across the state, expecting central assistance, for the crop loss of the ryots due to rains in January.

The relief number, he said in a tweet, would be credited directly to their bank accounts.

A total of 6,62,689 hectares of agricultural crops, in addition to 18,645 hectares of horticulture crops, were affected due to heavy rains last month, the chief minister said.

Taking a considerate view of the plight of farmers, my government has already declared a relief to the ryots impacted by cyclones Nivar and Burevi higher and above the ceiling allowed by the state disaster relief fund guidelines, Palaniswami said.

The input relief for rain-fed and irrigated paddy crops and other irrigated crops has also been raised from ₹13,500 per hectare to ₹ 20,000.

Although the relief was increased to about 10,000 from about 7,410 per hectare for all rain-fed crops, except rain-fed paddy, the relief for perennial crops was increased to about 25,000 from about 18,000 per hectare.

He instructed that a central committee will visit Tamil Nadu again from 3-5 February to determine the scale of farmers' crop losses.

Listing the steps launched by his government to alleviate the farmers' conditions, Palaniswami said Tamil Nadu was struck by the Burevi storm shortly after cyclone Nivar landed near Puducherry on November 25 and 26 last year, even as relief and recovery activities were on.

‘Human fatalities and damage to livestock during the Nivar and Burevi storms were mostly avoided due to preventive steps taken by my administration. Both the Nivar and Burevi cyclones, however, caused serious damage to the power grid, while roads were destroyed or damaged in many parts of the state as well. In addition, agricultural and horticultural crops have also been badly affected,’ he added.

Because of the rescue and recovery operations carried out on my recommendation, normalcy returned to the storm-affected districts, added the chief minister.

The government will need a combined financial assistance of ₹ 3,750.38 crore, including ₹ 641.83 crore for temporary repairs and ₹ 3,108.55 crore for permanent repairs.

In addition, ₹ 485 crore for temporary repairs and ₹ 1,029 crore for permanent repair works have been allotted.