Yogi allocates Rs 177 crore for over 3.5 lakh deprived farmers

Lucknow, Feb 12 (IANS) In a significant move to help farmers of Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government has directed the transfer of approximately Rs 177 crore to the accounts of more than three and a half lakh farmers of the state.

These farmers were previously excluded from receiving compensation for the financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23 due to technical glitches.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who recently chaired a review meeting on compensation and other relief measures for crops affected by various disasters, expressed dissatisfaction with the negligence in re-verifying crop losses and the non-release of compensation to the affected farmers and sought answers from the concerned officials of 17 districts.

Clear directives were issued to officials to promptly verify cases and ensure the immediate disbursement of compensation to affected farmers.

It is worth noting that assistance totalling over Rs 80,88,68,299 has already been distributed to more than 1,87,845 farmers as of January in the current financial year.

Additional Chief Secretary Sudhir Garg said, “In accordance with chief minister Yogi Adityanath's directives, a comprehensive survey was conducted across all districts of the state to extend assistance to farmers who had not received compensation. The survey revealed that a total of 3,76,287 farmers were deprived of compensation for crop damage caused by disasters during the state's financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23. This comprises 2,27,735 farmers for the financial year 2021-22 and 1,48,552 farmers for the year 2022-23.”

Following this, instructions were issued to all district magistrates to requisition funds to compensate the affected farmers.

Consequently, a total amount of Rs 1,76,96,63,245 was demanded from all 75 districts of the state for both financial years. This includes Rs 77,36,83,239 for the financial year 2021-22 and Rs 59,59,80,006 for the year 2022-23.

Relief Commissioner GS Naveen explained that a significant number of farmers, affected by crop damage due to disasters, are unable to receive compensation because of errors in Aadhaar, account numbers, and duplication during data feeding. In such cases, re-verification is conducted, but there has been negligence at the district level over the past two years, resulting in the inability to issue compensation to the farmers.

Now, efforts are underway to rectify this situation and transfer funds to farmers who were deprived of compensation previously.

Furthermore, funds are being expedited to provide immediate compensation to affected farmers from various districts of the state. As of now, over Rs 100 crore has been disbursed to farmers who were excluded from compensation in the last two financial years.