The 2021-22 interim budget of the Edappadi Palaniswami government has given top priority to the farm and irrigation sectors.
The government has increased the outlay for the agricultural sector to around Rs 12,000 crore and the capital outlay for major, medium and minor irrigation works to Rs 6,453 crore in the interim budget, said finance minister O Panneerselvam in the assembly.
The government has taken up several irrigation infrastructure projects in the Cauvery, Tamiraparani and other river basins and have fixed tight deadlines for their completion in the next two years. Athikadavu-Avinashi flood canal scheme, costing Rs 1,652 crore is scheduled to be completed in December this year. Diversion of flood surplus water from Mettur dam to dry tanks in the Sarabanga basin is under implementation and would be completed shortly. Tamiraparani, Karumeniyar and Nambiyar linking project will be completed by March next year and it would benefit arid regions of Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts.
The capital major irrigation, outlay for medium irrigation and minor irrigation was stepped up from Rs 4,882 crore in the budget estimates of 2020-21 to Rs 6,389 crore in the revised estimates for 2020-21, he said.
Targeting the farm sector, which constitutes nearly 50% of the population, the state government has more than doubled the subsidy (insurance premium) allocation for providing crop insurance in the state. From Rs 812 crore last year, the government has increased the premium subsidy allocation to Rs 1,738 crore in the interim budget. Higher allocation was warranted as farmers faced a series of damage to their crops owing to cyclones and unseasonal heavy rain this year. But for the natural calamities, the state should have harvested a record yield this year.