Bhubaneswar: Acting on media reports on crop damage due to heavy rainfall, the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Saturday directed the district collectors to submit crop damage reports by November 25.
“You are aware that farmers have been affected by drought and pest attack during the current year. Now, the present unseasonal rain has further affected the farmers in some parts of the state. The affected farmers are eligible to get agricultural input subsidy in prescribed rate as per norms of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), who have sustained crop loss of 33 per cent and above due to the calamity,” SRC Bishnupada Sethi wrote to all collectors.
Due to depression over the Bay of Bengal, unseasonal rain occurred in many districts between November 15 and 17. Due to such unseasonal rain/cyclonic circulation/wind has caused damage to the Kharif crops.
Besides, during the video conferencing meeting held November 16, Chief Minister had also asked the collectors to take up survey of crops damaged and submit report within seven days, Sethi pointed out.
“Furnish the list of affected villages sustaining crop loss of 33 per cent and above due to the unseasonal rain along with area of crop loss and number of farmers affected by November 25 positively,” the SRC instructed.
According to rainfall reports, not a single block or area has recorded the amount of rainfall required to qualify for compensation as per the Orissa Relief Code. Therefore, the government has now decided to compensate the affected farmers by describing it as an impact of cyclonic circulation, official sources said.
The Orissa Relief Code says, “Heavy rain would mean three days or more of uninterrupted rainfall, the total amounting to at least three times that month’s average rainfall in the block/area. In absence of supporting materials, rain amount from 64.5 mm to 124.4 mm per day for continuous three days or more and/or 124.5 mm and above for more than one day may be treated as heavy rainfall.”
If the crop damage would be termed as an impact of cyclonic circulation, the government would provide Rs 6,800 per hectare of land in rainfed/non-irrigated areas and Rs 13,500 per hectare of land in areas under assured irrigation area. PNN
