Recovery of land revenue dues from farmers suspended

LUCKNOW: The state government on Saturday suspended recovery of land revenue dues from drought-hit farmers of Mahoba and Lalitpur districts in Bundelkhand for next six months.

Principal secretary, revenue, Rajnish Dubey issued a circular to this effect.The move will benefit farmers in 1,244 villages of the two districts.

The decision, according to special secretary, revenue, Sanjay Kumar has been taken on the recommendations of district magistrates of the two districts.

“The state government has decided to suspend recovery of land revenue from drought-affected farmers in Mahoba and Lalitpur with immediate effect till June 30, 2018,” Kumar said.

Sources said the government might announce the same waiver for Jhansi and Mirzapur districts, too, very soon after the DMs send their reports.

With this decision, recovery of land revenue dues stands suspended in 133 villages in Sadar tehasil, 116 villages in Charkhari and 271 in Kulpahar tehasil of Mahoba district.

In Lalitpur, there are 54 villages in Maharauni tehasil and 110 and 33 villages in Madwara and Talbehat tehsils, respectively.

The DMs of Mahoba and Lalitpur, through their separate letters, had told the state government that scanty rainfall during the monsoon had badly damaged kharif crops, hitting the livelihood of farmers in their districts and making it difficult for them to pay their land revenue

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The state government has decided to suspend recovery of land revenue from droughtaffected farmers in Mahoba and Lalitpur with immediate effect till June 30, 2018

SANJAY KUMAR, spl secy revenue

dues for now.

Though the Uttar Pradesh government did not declare drought in any part of the state, there are a number of districts that received little rainfall this year, the situation being worst in Bundelkhand that received only 64% of the normal rainfall.

The second worst affected region was western region at 76.3% rainfall, followed by eastern (79%) and central (79.4%) regions. The state’s average rainfall was 76%.

Of the 75 districts of the state, 15 districts, including Mahoba, received between 40-60% of the

normal rainfall between June and September while, Lalitpur was among the 25 districts that received 60-80% rainfall during the period.

GB Nagar, Pilibhit and Ghaziabad received the least rainfall in the state, below 40%. But farmers of these districts appear to have managed irrigation with private tube wells. Most farmers own private means of irrigation in the relatively more prosperous western region.

Kumar said exemptions and waivers are given not on the basis of degree of rainfall but on the extent of damage to crops.

“Under the rules, districts with crop loss is more than 40% are considered for such waivers,” he said and added that reports from some more districts were awaited.

The government’s decision to suspend recovery of land revenue has come at a time when a united opposition has stalled proceedings in both the state assembly and council, demanding roll-back of the power tariff hike, especially for the rural domestic consumers and farmers.