Waterlogged road amid heavy rains in Gujarat.
Credit: PTI Photo
The Gujarat government on Saturday announced a special relief package for farmers hit by an overflowing Narmada river in Bharuch, Narmada and Vadodara districts between September 16 and September 18.
Based on a report on the estimated damages caused to standing crops in the three districts due to flooding caused by the river, the government has decided to provide a special relief package from the state budget in addition to the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to help farmers against their losses, it said.
The government said that the benefit of the package will be given to farmers who have incurred 33 per cent or more loss of agricultural and horticultural crops for the kharif season 2023-24 in the villages declared as affected by the district administration, subject to a cap of two hectares.
For non-irrigated agricultural crops, affected farmers will get a relief package of Rs 8,500 per hectare as per the SDRF norms. For irrigated agriculture and rainfed horticulture crops, they will get Rs 8,000 in addition to Rs 17,000 per hectare as per SDRF norms, it said.
For perennial crops, the assistance will be Rs 15,000 per hectare in addition to Rs 22,500 paid as per the SDRF norms. Similarly, for 33 per cent or more of perennial horticultural crops uprooted or fallen per hectare, the farmers will be eligible for an assistance of Rs 1,02,500 in addition to Rs 22,500 paid as per SDRF norms, it said.
Those affected farmers who want to avail of the assistance package have to apply online on the ‘Digital Gujarat Portal’ by October 31, 2023, the government said.
Assistance under this special relief package and other ancillary payments will be made through direct benefit transfer (DBT) into the bank account of the beneficiaries, it said.
Several areas in Gujarat were inundated due to heavy rains in the upper reaches of Narmada and the release of a massive amount of water from the Sardar Sarovar dam last week. The Congress has called it a “man-made disaster” and demanded an investigation by a special investigation team (SIT) into the management of the dam apart from assistance to affected people.