Notices were issued by the Maharashtra Agriculture Department to seed companies in the state to pay Rs 210 crore in compensation to around 3 lakh cotton farmers affected by the Pink Bollworm attack.
At least 12 districts are reported to be affected by pink bollworm. Maharashtra is the first state to seek National Disaster Relief Fund assistance for crop loss due to pest infestation; till now it was only sought citing drought. The state has sought Rs 3,337 crore aid and relief for pest attack on 42.07 lakh hectares. After punchnamas and assessment of the loss of the cotton crop due to pink bollworm, the state government in December 2017, announced compensation for farmers at Rs 30,800 per hectare. Of this, Rs 6,800 a hectare was to be given from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF), Rs 8,000 from the crop insurance cover and Rs 16,000 from the claims from the seed companies.
The hearings in districts of Amravati divison and Beed were pending. Insurance companies, National Disaster Relief Fund and seed companies are all part of the compensation process under the Pink Bollworm attack.
Hearings are in progress at present and accordingly the State Agriculture Commissioner Sachendra Pratap Singh, Vijay Kumar Ingale, Director, Quality Control and other senior officials have been pursuing hearings on this issue.
Earlier, the department had directed seed companies to pay compensation worth Rs 93 crore to cotton farmers for the damage caused by the Pink Bollworm attack. Last season, some 34.35 lakh hectares had been affected by the Pink Bollworm attack affecting some 13.59 lakh farmers.
cultivation on 55,000 hectares. Hearings for Akola, Buldhana, Amravati, Washim, and Yavatmal districts in Amravati division and Beed district are yet to be completed.
According to officials, seed companies have been granted one month’s time to file their replies. After this, they can appeal to the Commissioner of Agriculture.
Though the compensation from two components has to come from the respective companies, the third component has to be paid by the state government.
The state government, in January, sent a memorandum to the Centre demanding Rs 2,425 crore and later revised the amount to Rs 3,373 crore in March demanding the assistance under NDRF.
