The Uttar Pradesh government has sought assistance of more than ₹839 crore for damage to crops, property and human life due to the drought and recent violent hailstorms.
The government on Thursday submitted memorandums to the Centre seeking assistance of ₹678.98 crore for losses under drought in the rabi season and ₹153.43 crore for damage due to hailstorm from February to April.
Drought was declared in select tehsils of the five districts of Mahoba Sonbhadra, Mirzapur, Jhansi and Lalitpur.
Over five lakh farmers were affected due to drought in 2,307 villages, State Revenue and Relief Commissioner Sanjay Kumar has written to the Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry.
The State has demanded aid of ₹321crore for damages to crop over five lakh hectares and ₹86.42 crore for losses incurred due to no sowing because of lack of moisture over 1.27 lakh hectare land. The State has also sought ₹147 crore for antodyaya families affected by the drought.
Hailstorm and unseasonal rains in February, March and April also caused damage to crops, animals and humans in 36 districts.
Arguing that the hailstorm had caused farmers to be in a “condition of helplessness and suffering,” the State in a letter on Thursday requested the Centre for ₹153 crore to compensate losses.
According to the state government, an area of 1.85 lakh hectare was affected due to the hailstorm and unseasonal rsins, causing 58 human deaths and 542 dead animals.
Over 1.68 lakh hectares of land recorded more than 33% crop loss. Farmers with less than 2 hectares land suffered losses amounting to ₹110.88 crore while those with land over 2 hectares suffered losses worth ₹39.37 crore, according to the state's hailstorm memorandum 2018.
The districts affected by hailstorm include Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi, Jalaun and Lalitpur in Bundelkhand; Varanasi, Azamgarh, Ballia, Jaunpur and Mirzapur in Purvanchal; Aligarh, Bijnore, Bulandshahr, Sambhal, Hapur in the West and Lucknow, Unnao, Kanpur, Faizabad, Gonda, Hardoi, Sitapur, Etawah and Kannauj in central U.P.
