Grant of over Rs 26 cr approved for Amphan-hit artisans, weavers
Kolkata: The state government will soon start providing financial assistance to weavers and artisans across the state for the damages caused to their workshops and looms by the super cyclone Amphan.
The Disaster Management department has approved Rs 26.31 crore in favour of the state MSME department for providing grant by Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) through the respective District Magistrate offices. "The poor artisans were in need of financial assistance to repair their damaged work sheds, looms and other accessories that were severely damaged by Amphan. The fund is being sub allotted among the respective DMs for subsequent transfer to the concerned block development officers.
The grant will be finally disbursed to the affected weaver and artisans through DBT," said a senior official of MSME department. As per estimates, 64175 weavers and artisans across 13 districts in the state have suffered damages due to Amphan. North 24-Parganas, Bankura, Birbhum, South 24-Parganas, Hooghly, Kolkata, Howrah , Nadia, Murshidabad, Malda, East Midnapore, West Midnapore and East Burdwan figure on the list, where financial assistance will be extended. The highest number of weavers and artisans were affected from Nadia (30854), followed by East Burdwan (10339) and East Midnapore (7959). The highest amount of Rs 12.65 crore has been allocated for Nadia district, Rs 4.2 crore for East Burdwan and Rs 3.26 crore for East Midnapore.
The lowest number of artisans (107) were affected in Murshidabad district. The total fund allocated for the district is Rs 4.3 lakh. The assistance is being provided to handloom weavers, MSME artisans and Khadi artisans. The list of beneficiaries have been prepared by the procedure laid out by Disaster
Management and Civil Defence department. "It should be scrutinised at the block level by a team comprising four members with BDO being the chairman. Thereafter, it may be sent to the District Magistrate concerned for approval following which the respective BDOs should arrange for DBT of the grant into the bank accounts of the affected artisans/ weavers," an official said.
