Chandigarh, Oct 1 (IANS) In a major relief to farmers whose crops were damaged in floods, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has announced the postponement of crop loan repayment and also a waiver in the electricity bill of tubewells till December end.

With this, approximately 3,00,000 farmers will benefit.

The Chief Minister told the media here that through the e-Kshatipurti portal, the government on Wednesday transferred Rs 4.72 crore into the accounts of 2,386 people whose houses and household items were damaged and livestock perished in the floods. The compensation amount included Rs 4.67 crore for damage to houses and Rs 4.21 lakh for cattle loss.

According to the Chief Minister, 5.37 lakh farmers in 6,397 villages had registered themselves with the e-Kshatipurti portal for the crop damage. The government would give compensation of Rs 15,000 per acre to farmers after verification.

“In villages where the flood has damaged more than 50 per cent of crops, and where indebted farmers suffered crop losses of 33 per cent or more, the recovery of current Kharif crop loans taken by farmers from cooperative societies has been postponed,” he said.

“They will also be provided with crop loans for the Rabi crop,” the CM said.

He said till September 30, five lakh metric tons of paddy arrived in the state, of which 3.58 lakh metric tons were procured.

Approximately Rs 109 crore was deposited into farmers’ accounts.

“Similarly, 187.30 metric tons of millet have been procured by procurement agencies and 4,970 metric tons by traders,” he said.

“We will ensure payment of the MSP of Rs 2,775 per quintal to farmers for millet. We will compensate the remaining amount at which the millet is purchased by the state procurement agencies,” the CM said.

The Chief Minister said, “If the millet is damaged due to some reason and is purchased by traders at a lower price, we will still pay the farmer the price difference on the rate determined on that day.”

“Today, Rs 404.79 crore was released to the Panchayati Raj Institutions of the state as the second instalment,” he said.

This amount will be transferred to the accounts of 5,719 Panchayats, 144 Panchayat Samitis, and three Zila Parishads.

“Over the past four years, we have provided Rs 3,700 crore to Panchayati Raj Institutions for development works. We launched the Deendayal Lado Laxmi Yojana on September 25th, the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay. On the same day, the Lado Laxmi App was also launched. In the past six days, 171,946 women registered on this app,” said CM Saini.

–IANS

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