State sets Nov deadline for disbursing crop insurance to affected farmers
Agri department has made a preliminary assessment of the damage
The Agriculture department has set a November dateline for disbursing crop insurance, popularly known as Bangla Shasya Bima (BSB), to the affected farmers whose agricultural land has been inundated in the recent flood that had hit some districts of North and South Bengal.
The department made a preliminary assessment of the damage on the basis of which a requisition of around Rs 180 crore has been sent to the Disaster Management and Civil Defence department.
State Agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay chaired a meeting from Nabanna in the presence of senior officials of his department and issued instructions for assessing actual damage by ground truthing by the insurance agency as soon as possible so as to compensate affected farmers within November by BSB.
The Director Agriculture was asked to finalize and send alternative crop plan for affected areas by tomorrow (Thursday) so that distribution of seeds to affected districts can be made by November first week. Hybrid mustard, groundnut, boro paddy, sesame, summer maize etc. can be an alternative. Initial estimates have pegged BSB claim for preventive sowing to about Rs 200 crore for Bankura, Birbhum, Murshidabad, West Burdwan and Purulia due to scant rainfall to be settled within November 15.
According to the preliminary estimates, 30 blocks in five districts namely Malda, South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar having a total crop area of 74353 hectares have been affected in north Bengal.In south Bengal, 32 blocks in eight districts namely West Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly, East Midnapore, East Burdwan, Bankura, Murshidabad and Birbhum covering a crop area of 87217 hectares have been affected.
Among these districts, the maximum damage has been reported from Hooghly, West Midnapore, Howrah, Malda, South Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri. Six state-level teams were constituted under the leadership of senior officers along with experts on plant protection who will do field assessments and suggest mitigation measures to save standing crops.
In the last week, heavy rainfall in these districts coupled with water release from dams maintained by Damodar Valley Corporation had contributed to inundation in these districts. The minister also stressed upon timely disposal of the pending cases received through Sarasari Mukhyamantri ( complaints in CMO grievance) by sticking to the deadline for such disposal.
