Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday, appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to consider enhancing the scale of relief to farmers hit by natural calamities, in accordance with the recommendations of the Working Group on Agriculture Production.

The Chief Minister informed the Prime Minister in a letter, that the, Calamities that struck the state in last two months had caused damage to public infrastructure to the tune of Rs 1,207.72 crore. He cited that, The calamities affected 5,327 villages in 15 districts and resulted in devastation of agriculture and horticulture crops in 11.53 lakh hectares besides affecting the animal husbandry sector.

However, considering the magnitude of the calamity, the state and announced relief at an enhanced norm of Rs 6,000 per hectare for paddy. Kiran said, The total input subsidy comes to Rs 649.18 crore if we include the estimated requirement of input subsidy for the damage to groundnut crop to the tune of Rs 56.04 crore.

While thanking the Prime Minister for extending Rupees 400 crore as advance, the CM requested that the sum might be treated as a grant over and above the CRF. The state government would also send a detailed memorandum to the Centre on the damage caused due to depression in Bay of Bengal from December 5 to 12.

Published Date : Tuesday, 28/12/2010 10:51 AM IST

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