Unseasonal rains in the midst of summer in several districts of Gujarat, have upended crops and hit farmers. At least eight people have died in rain-related incidents in the last few days as parts of Gujarat have been witnessing untimely rains and even thunderstorms.
Parts of Saurashtra, north and Central Gujarat came under the spell of untimely rains, damaging crops in the fields.
Incessant rains, accompanied by lightning and thunderstorms, left five people dead in Saurashtra’s Junagadh and Surendranagar districts on Tuesday and Wednesday, while three people died earlier due to lightning.
As per the Meteorological department, parts of Gujarat would continue to receive light showers. Since mid-March, the State has been witnessing sporadic rains in more than a dozen districts.
In March, heavy spells of unseasonal rains had damaged crops in more than 40,000 hectares across a dozen districts.
“Highest ever” package
On Thursday, the State government announced a relief package for farmers who had suffered losses due to the rains in several parts of Gujarat in March.
Now, the demand has come up to compensate farmers hit by the rains in the last two weeks.
As per details, the relief package for providing “assistance” to the affected farmers was cleared in the State Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Thursday.
The Cabinet spokesman and Health Minister Rushikesh Patel called the relief offered under this special package the “highest ever”.
He said the package was announced after a loss-assessment survey was carried out in 13 affected districts — Rajkot, Junagadh, Banaskantha, Arvalli, Tapi, Patan, Sabarkantha, Surat, Kutch, Amreli, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Ahmedabad.
Additional assistance
As per the details he shared with mediapersons, farmers who lost 33% or more of their total crops, will get the financial assistance in addition to the compensation provided by the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), as per norms.
For crops like wheat, chana (gram), mustard, banana and papaya, farmers will get ₹13,500 from SDRF and an additional assistance of ₹9,500 per hectare from the State government, which means ₹23,000 per hectare up to two hectare.
In all, each farmer will get an assistance of ₹23,000 per hectare but with a cap of a maximum of two hectares.
For the damage to horticulture produces like mango, guava and lemon, the State government will pay ₹30,600 per hectare with an upper limit of two hectares.
This compensation includes ₹18,000 per hectare from SDRF and ₹12,600 from the State coffers, said the Minister, adding that the State will pay a minimum assistance of ₹4,000 to eligible farmers.
Enhance relief
However, the Congress party leaders on Thursday said that the government must announce the package for the farmers who had suffered losses in the last two weeks also.
Gujarat Congress farmers wing leader Pala Ambalia said that the package announced on Thursday needed to be enhanced as the losses suffered by the farmers were huge and secondly, the farmers hit in the last two weeks also must be included to receive the compensation.
