Crop loss aid of Rs 10k per acre delayed as agri staff have no cars for survey
HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao's announcement to extend crop loss aid of Rs 10,000 per acre to farmers, who suffered losses due to the recent unseasonal rains in districts is yet to materialise due to a delay in conducting crop loss survey by agriculture officials.
These officials cited lack of vehicles to undertake tours in rain-hit areas and last year’s unpaid bills for using hired cars.
Following this, the finance department on Friday cleared the pending bills on a war-footing to enable officials to hire cars to undertake tours for the survey.
The government fixed April 4 deadline for agriculture officials to conduct field-level surveys and submit a report on the extent of damage caused to crops and the number of farmers who are eligible to claim financial assistance from the state government.
The Chief Minister had visited Khammam, Warangal, Mahabubabad and Karimnagar districts on March 23 to assess the damage caused to crops. He announced Rs 10,000 per acre financial assistance to farmers, including tenant farmers for the first time and directed Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari to take steps to immediately transfer funds to the farmers. However, even after 10 days since the announcement, agriculture officials are yet to take up the survey.
Inquiries by CS and top officials in the agriculture department reportedly revealed that mandal agriculture officers (MAOs) and other field staff in districts delayed the survey as they had no funds to hire vehicles. They reportedly pointed out that the state government did not clear the bills incurred on hired cars last year due to which they are not in a position to hire cars this time.
The government has made a provision to allocate Rs 33,000 per month to agriculture staff to hire cars for four months in a year for field visits. The bills pertaining to previous year were not cleared.
CM K. Chandrashekar Rao, after an aerial survey of the four districts had stated that crops over an extent 2.28 lakh acre was damaged and financial assistance of Rs 228 crore would be provided to farmers immediately.
