Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government has set a milestone by directly transferring Rs 290 crore in the bank accounts of 9.78 lakh farmers on the first day itself when she relaunched the Krishak Bandhu scheme by doubling the annual financial support for all farmers.
Around 62 lakh farmers will now receive an increased financial support from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 for one acre or more of cultivable land and those having less than one acre will now receive a minimum of Rs 4,000 per annum. It was Banerjee one of the 10 "ongikars" (assurances) given ahead of the Assembly polls.
Giving a detailed information on various schemes including Krishak Bandhu of her government for benefits of farmers, Banerjee took a dig at the Centre saying that very less number of farmers get the benefit of "their scheme" (PM-Kisan). "Their scheme is for farmers having more than 2 acres land and sharecroppers are not included. But sharecroppers too get the benefit out of our Krishak Bandhu scheme. Moreover the farmers here get the benefit against self declaration only," she said adding incidents of "farmers' agitation and farmers' unnatural deaths" do not take place in Bengal.
Banerjee attended the programme virtually from Nabanna Sabhaghar when district magistrates given out certificates to the beneficiaries in all 22 districts.
She said that benefits have been transferred to the bank accounts of more than 9.78 lakh farmers on the first day of relaunching of the scheme itself. "A total of Rs 290 crore has been transferred," Banerjee said, adding that the benefits will reach the remaining beneficiaries in the next few days.
The state government has so far provided financial assistance of Rs 4,500 crore to 61.21 lakh farmers since the inception of the scheme on February 1 in 2019.
The farmers will be getting the financial benefit in two instalments of Rs 5,000 each and the state government will also continue to give Rs 2 lakh to next of kin in case of the death of a farmer of age group 18 to 60 years. Around 28,000 people have been provided with death benefits of a total Rs 555.32 crore till date. At the same time the state government also has a scheme to provide monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 to each of 1 lakh farmers.
Banerjee also announced her government's initiative of distributing 2 lakh packets, each containing 6 kg Nona Swarna seeds, for cultivation of paddy at the areas where agricultural fields got inundated with saline water due to Yaas.
She also said that as many as 115 lakh farmers were provided with immediate crop rehabilitation relief after any natural disaster since 2011-12 at a cost of Rs 3667 crore.
Banerjee on Thursday also provided jobs to a large section of Covid warriors as well.