MAPUSA
Admitting that there was a delay in paying subsidy and compensation to farmers in the State, Deputy Chief Minister, Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar told the House that the government will complete the disbursement of financial aid to farmers by August.
He said 81,977 cases of compensation claims have been cleared so far while 1,288 claims were pending with the department.
“There was a delay in paying the financial aid to farmers on account of the ongoing pandemic. We have started clearing the pending claims and will complete disbursing all the claims by August,” said Kavlekar, who is the Agriculture Minister.
The Deputy CM was responding to a joint query raised by Siolim MLA Vinoda Paliencar, Saligao MLA Jayesh Salgaonkar and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai during the Question Hour.
Kavlekar informed that under the Shetkari Adhar Nidhi scheme the compensation amount has been hiked from Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 per hectare and maximum compensation has been increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.60 lakh.
While participating in the discussion, Fatorda MLA, Vijai Sardesai said the minister in his written reply has mentioned that the delay in releasing compensation amount to farmers was due to delay in receiving funds from the Centre.
“So what has happened? Has the scheme failed or the government has failed in providing much needed aid to the farmers,” Sardesai asked.
He said when the chief minister was talking about ‘Swayampurna Goem’ how were the central funds not coming to the State on time.
The Agriculture Minister said the delay for release in central funds happened because of the Covid crisis which will now be cleared by next month.
Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginald Lourenco informed that cyclones have become common and asked the minister what steps the government was planning to take to compensate the farmers the next time. “The storms and cyclones happen because we have damaged the ecosystem. We have failed to protect the environment and this is affecting the agriculture produce and the farmers. How will the government compensate the farmers in future,” he asked.
Ponda MLA, Ravi Naik informed the House that cheques issued to farmers bounced and the farmers were made to dance from pillar to post to recover the compensation amount.
Chief Minister, Pramod Sawant informed that there was no possibility for government cheques to bounce and asked the legislator to produce the cheque.
Marcaim MLA Sudin Dhavalikar and Porvorim MLA, Rohan Khaunte also took part in the discussion.
