Chandigarh (The Hawk): As promised to release the compensation to the affected farmers in the May month, the Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday, the last day of May, released an amount of Rs.181 crore to the farmers who have suffered rabi crop damage due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms.
The Chief Minister claimed that this is the first time, compensation amount has been released to the farmers at such a quick pace.
The compensation has been directly transferred into the accounts of farmers by the CM through E-Kshatipurti Portal, earlier the amount used to be released through DC.
"We had conducted a special survey of crop damage, according to which the crop damage was reported in 2.09 lakh acres in 18 districts. Today, an amount of Rs 181 crore is being released as compensation to 67,758 farmers for wheat, mustard and rapeseed crops," said CM Khattar after digitally releasing the compensation amount.
Deputy Chief Minister, Dushyant Chautala, Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister, J.P Dalal also remained present on this occasion. The Deputy Commissioners also attended the programme through video conferencing.
The Chief Minister said that officers concerned should ensure 100 percent registration of farmers on Meri Fasal Mera Byora so that timely compensation can be released to them.
CM Khattar said, “Gone are the days when the farmers used to wait for years to get their compensation. Through e-governance reforms we have ensured that farmers should get timely compensation.”
The E-kshatipurti portal is a historic step towards ensuring transparency in the system of application, verification and award of compensation at the time of crop loss, said the Chief Minister. He asserted that through this portal, the compensation amount is deposited directly into the verified account of the farmer provided on the 'Meri Fasal - Mera Byora' portal. For this, there is no need to register anywhere other than on this portal, he added.
The Chief Minister, who recently had conducted a whirlwind tour of the rain hit villages to assess the damage of crops due to rain, had promised the farmers to release the compensation amount within the month of May.
Meanwhile, this is the first time that the farmers have got the compensation directly in their accounts, while earlier the same used to be given through Deputy Commissioners.
Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, D.S. Dhesi, Additional Chief Secretary and Financial Commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management and Consolidation Departments, Rajesh Khullar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, V. Umashankar, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, and Director General, Information, Public Relations, Languages and Culture Department, Dr Amit Agrawal also remained present on this occasion.
—Jag Mohan Thaken
