October 12, 2018
Durga Puja gift: Compensation for hailstorm-affected farmers
The state Agriculture department will give a compensation of Rs 210 crore to farmers who had incurred loss due to hailstorm in 2018. Following a direction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the state Agriculture department has set October 12 as the deadline to complete distribution of cheques among the farmers. There are more than 3.25 lakh farmers who will be receiving compensation.
Farmers in both North and South Bengal were affected. Farmers from 10 districts including Murshidabad, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, South Dinajpur, Malda, Birbhum, Nadia, North 24-Parganas and West Midnapore had incurred heavy loss due to the hailstorm. The distribution of cheques has started and to ensure that farmers get the money without any delay, the work is going on in full swing.
It may be mentioned, in the past seven years, the Chief Minister has taken several steps for the benefit of farmers. Most importantly, the Mamata Banerjee government has waived land tax to provide impetus to the agriculture sector. At the same time, the state Agriculture department has taken steps to help farmers adopt new methods and techniques, which has ensured an increase in their income. The average annual income of farmers has gone up to Rs 2.91 lakh.
