Maharashtra: State sub-committee approves extra aid of Rs 755 crore for farmers

The CM said that till now, the government has provided relief to 36 lakh farmers affected by rain.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. (Express file photo)

A state Cabinet sub-committee on Thursday cleared additional funds of Rs 755 crore to provide financial aid to more than five lakh farmers, who were affected by natural calamities, including rain, but could not be given aid earlier as they were not eligible for the relief.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the government has extended financial aid worth Rs 4,500 crore till now to farmers affected by natural calamities. “Had we followed SDRF rules, we could have given only Rs 1,500 crore as aid. We went beyond that,” he said in a statement after the meeting.

The Maharashtra government had received proposals from divisional commissioners of Aurangabad and Amaravati as well as the Solapur district collector seeking aid despite the agricultural losses faced by farmers there not fitting the laid down criteria for compensation.

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The sub-committee cleared Rs 755 crore for losses suffered by 4,38,489 hectare of land in Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Hingoli, Beed, Latur and Osmanabad districts, 36,711.31 hectare in Yavatmal and 74,446 hectare in Solapur.

Shinde said that till now, the government has provided relief to 36 lakh farmers affected by rain and distributed Rs 3,900 crore among them.

The divisional commissioners had sent proposals seeking aid to farmers, based on which Rs 3445.25 crore and Rs 56.45 crore were released for Aurangabad and Amaravati, respectively. In addition, Rs 98.58 crore were paid to Aurangabad division to compensate losses due to snail attack. Also, Rs 354.07 crore were released based on additional proposals from Nasik, Amaravati and Pune divisional commissioners.

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Eknath Shinde