Opposition stages walkout in state assembly expressing displeasure over CM’s reply on damage caused by heavy rains & floods

Opposition parties led by the Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar in the state assembly on Tuesday staged a walk expressing displeasure over the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s reply to a special debate on the damage caused due to heavy rains and floods in various districts.

Ajit Pawar claimed that the CM has failed to announce a substantial financial aid to farmers and address the problem that arose after nature's fury. Besides, the government has waived educational fees of the students for the current academic year from the districts affected by heavy rains and floods.

However, CM and DCM Devendra Fadnavis claimed that the government has doubled the financial assistance to the affected farmers and its disbursement will start from September 15.

Shinde in his reply announced that the government will provide compensation to the farmers by making pancharamas in the case of more than 33% damage caused to the crops due to continuous rains. In order to avoid the delay in giving the financial aid to the affected people henceforth the mobile app will be used to conduct pancharamas (assessment), he said.

‘’At present, the compensation is given in case of damage due to heavy rain (more than 65 mm). However, taking into account the demand till date, if more than 33 per cent damage has been caused due to continuous rains, compensation also will be given to the farmers after conducting the punchnamas,’’ said Shinde. He further stated that e pancharamas through mobile application will be conducted to reduce delays in the disbursement of financial assistance which will be directly deposited in the Aadhar linked bank accounts of the farmers. In addition, remote sensing technology (satellite image) and drone technology will also be used for the assessment of damage due to natural calamities.

Shinde said, instructions have been given to make a panchnama regarding the damage due to the outbreak of insect diseases like snails, yellow mosaic and the affected farmers will also be helped for the damage caused by such insects. ‘’Earlier, an automatic meteorological station was set up in every 2400 revenue circles to measure the rainfall and other meteorological phenomena. As this number is insufficient, the number of automatic weather stations will be increased. This will provide farmers with accurate weather forecasts and insurance claims can be settled quickly,’’ he noted.

‘’Instructions are given to the insurance company for compensation of crop loss. Also, written instructions will be given to the insurance companies that the loss notification/application will be accepted at the agriculture office, tehsil office or the bank where the insurance is paid and these applications will be accepted. The disbursement of financial aid will start from September 15,’’ said Shinde.

CM announced that the government will launch the digital farming campaign to focus on seed traceability, block chain model, artificial intelligence, computerization of co-operative societies and farmer producer groups (FPOs). ‘’This will increase the income of farmers by getting high quality seeds and fertilizers at reasonable prices. The use of drone technology, nano urea, irrigation automation, control cultivation will be encouraged in modern agriculture. Under Crop Diversification the value chain will be developed with special emphasis on Oilseeds, Pulses and Horticulture,’’ he said. He added that the government will create an ecosystem to promote high value crops and horticultural crops.