Jharsuguda: The kharif season is almost over and rabi is about to begin, but the farmers here who lost their crops due to drought have not received the compensation declared by the government.
The reason is that almost all officials of the revenue and agriculture departments are busy ensuring the success of KALIA, a report said.
Farmers waited for the compensation announced by the government. They would have invested it in growing vegetables or other cash crops if they had been paid before the rabi season.
It is learnt that all officials are busy ensuring that financial assistance under KALIA is paid to eligible farmers. All officials of the revenue and agriculture departments are fully engaged in this, and are busy identifying farmers and disbursing money.
Many areas of Jharsuguda had suffered drought during Kharif in 2018-19. The paddy crop in all shallow lands were completely destroyed.
After a government directive, the agriculture department surveyed the loss. The report pointed out that 61.65 per cent of the paddy crop had been affected by the drought. Paddy was cultivated in 50,404 hectares and of that 31,076 hectares were affected.
After gathering data from various blocks, the district administration had prepared a report on the loss, and it was forwarded to the government.
A joint report of the revenue and agriculture departments said that the paddy crop in 9,045 hectares in Lakhanpur block, 7,232 hectares in Laikera block, 4,625 hectares in Kirmira block, 4,186 hectares in Kolabira block and 5,988 hectares in Jharsuguda block were destroyed.
After receiving the report, the government had announced compensation for the affected farmers.
The government should have provided over Rs 21.13 crore for the loss of the paddy crop in 31,076.8 hectares. In the first phase, the government provided Rs 8.45 crore, which was only 39.98 per cent of the total loss.
Although a survey was conducted on farmlands, the lands of individual farmers were not identified. Later, officials started identifying affected farmers, but as they are now busy with KALIA the identification process stopped midway. It is said the identification will take more time.
District Emergency Officer Sunasir Kisan said after the fund was sanctioned, tehsils were asked to disburse it. But there is no information about disbursal to affected farmers, he added.
PNN