TN government announced Rs 600 crore relief for farmers

Chennai, Jan 03: Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Saturday announced ₹ 600 crore relief assistance to about five lakh farmers, whose crops on 3.10 lakh plus hectares were hit due to the recent back to back cyclones in Tamil Nadu.

A norm that permitted relief only upto a maximum of two hectares has been relaxed in view of the losses suffered by ryots and the assistance shall cover loss in its entirety without any upper limit, Mr Palaniswami said.

The assistance would be directly credited to the bank accounts of farmers from January 7, he said in an official release.

Palaniswami said agricultural and horticultural crops on 3,10,589.63 hectares were affected in Tamil Nadu due to the Nivar and Burevi cyclones witnessed during November-December last year. Farmers, who bore huge production cost, were hit badly due to the storms, he added.

The Chief Minister increased aid, covered under input subsidy head, to ₹ 20,000 from ₹ 13,500 per hectare for rainfed and irrigated paddy and for other crops with irrigation amenities.
For all rainfed crops, barring paddy, the relief assistance per hectare is raised to ₹ 10,000 from the present ₹ 7,410, he announced.

Similarly, the Chief Minister hiked assistance under the perennial crops category to ₹ 25,000 from the present ₹ 18,000 per hectare.

The present slab of assistance per hectare is based on the National Disaster Relief Fund guidelines and the quantum of hike over and above the NDRF stipulation shall be borne by the state government, Mr Palaniswami said.

Tamil Nadu has sought ₹ 3,750.38 crore assistance for damage due to Nivar and ₹ 1,514 crore for Burevi from the Central government.

"Rs 600 crore assistance will be provided to about five lakh farmers and the benefit shall be directed transferred to their bank accounts from January 7," he said.