In a bid to reach out to farmers, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday ordered divisional commissioner A. Anbarasu to assess the damage to crops due to unseasonal hailstorm and rains in the national capital. Government officials said that it was undecided as to how much compensation will be offered to the farmers whose crops have been damaged due to weather conditions.
“Have asked Div Commissioner to assess damage to crops of farmers in Delhi due to unseasonal rains (sic),” Mr Kejriwal tweeted.
Last year, the Aam Aadmi Party government had announced compensation of Rs 20,000 per acre to farmers who faced losses due to crop damage. The Kejriwal government had then claimed it was the highest compensation announced by any government in the country so far.
On Sunday, Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay had written to lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung asking him to appoint a nodal officer to assess the crop loss due to untimely rains in the last few days. The Delhi BJP has demanded compensation of Rs 50,000 to Rs 70,000 per acre for farmers and said the relief payments should be disbursed before Holi.
A senior government official said the final decision on compensation will be taken only after the assessment report on crop damage by the divisional commissioner. The official added the Kejriwal government has not set any deadline for the submission of the report. It may take at least 10 days for the divisional commissioner to submit it.
“Although the AAP government has received several reports from area MLAs on crop losses to farmers, it will take final decision on compensation based on the divisional commissioner’s assessment report,” he said. Last year, Mr Kejriwal had given about Rs 33 crore as compensation to the farmers who had faced losses due to crop damage.
