UP govt seeks ₹850 cr flood relief package from Centre
Chief secretary has also asked all DMs to assess situation in their districts
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has sought a Rs 850crore package from the Centre to distribute compensation to farmers who lost their crops, animals and dwellings because of floods in around two dozen districts of the state.
The government has sent a memorandum to the Centre seeking financial assistance.
“We have demanded a Rs 850 crore financial package from the Centre to compensate crop and other losses caused to farmers by floods in eastern UP,” a senior official told HT.
“We see no problem in the Centre accepting the memorandum now when the same party rules the Centre and the state,” he added. Chief secretary Rajive Kumar has written a letter to all the district magistrates, asking them to assess the situation in their districts and recommend declaration of drought if they find the situation to be so.
“We have also asked the remote sensing (authorities) to send us data showing rainfall and moisture level, among other things, in the districts before a call on declaration of drought can be taken as per the norms,” said the official.
The government had recently constituted a group of ministers, asking it to tour different parts of the state and give its opinion on the drought. The three ministers who had been assigned different regions are learnt to have said in their report that the situation is especially bad in Bundelkhand where the crop losses in most of the districts have been estimated be around 40-50%.
Other districts affected by scanty rainfall are in the Agra and Aligarh divisions, besides a few in Meerut and Moradabad. The Central government rules say that for a farmer to qualify for compensation, the loss of his crops must be more than 33%.
Uttar Pradesh has received only 72% of the normal rainfall during the monsoon this year between June and September with Bundelkhand being the most parched region with only 63% rainfall.
Twenty-five districts received scanty rainfall (below 40%). The rainfall in 17 other districts was highly deficient (between 40%-60%).
Inadequate soil moisture in many districts may affect the sowing of crops in the coming kharif season as well, sources said. Sources, however, said, despite a weak monsoon this year, there was little possibility of many districts qualifying for drought declaration because they were unlikely to meet norms laid down by Central government.