Bhubaneswar: Drought-affected farmers of three districts in Odisha were today given special monetary assistance of Rs 100 per quintal of paddy as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik kicked off the e-transfer system.
The compensation amount will be directly credited to the bank account of the farmers whose crops were destroyed due to drought in the 2015 Kharif season.
At least 3 lakh farmers will be benefitted from the scheme. Farmers of the remaining 25 of the 28 drought-affected districts will get the special assistance in different phases, an official statement said.
Patnaik had announced that the drought-affected farmers would be given an additional monetary assistance of Rs 100 per quintal of paddy they sold to the government during paddy procurement.
However, the government has put a cap on disbursement of the special drought assistance.
It will be given up to 50 quintals of paddy sold to the government, the statement said.
Due to erratic and deficient rainfall in 28 of the 30 districts of Odisha, farmers had to incur huge losses in paddy production last year.
The state government, in its memorandum to the Centre on drought, said based on final crop cutting facts, about 33 per cent or more crops in the 28 districts were badly damaged and irrecoverable.