State sanctions Rs 11 crore to farmers who lost crops to untimely rain

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government Tuesday granted administrative sanction to disburse Rs 11 crore to farmers who lost their crops due to unseasonal rains this summer. It issued two government resolutions (GRs) sanctioning Rs 8,14,98,540 and Rs 2,93,00,655, respectively, to farmers who lost their crops during unseasonal showers in April-May this year.

In April, 12,726 cultivators were identified as having 5,093.65 hectares of unseasonal rain-affected agricultural land, the order stated.

The government resolution for May said that there were 4,409 farmers who lost their crops on 1,740.74 hectares of land. However, it was not clear from the government resolutions whether there would be an overlap of beneficiaries for two months. Officials from the revenue department also could not throw any light on this issue.

The number of farmers who lost their crops spread over 5,093.65 hectares to unseasonal showers in April stood at 12,726. Similarly, there were 4,409 farmers whose crops, spread over 1,740.74 hectares, were adversely affected by untimely showers in May.

The affected farmers hail from Konkan, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Amravati revenue divisions, the government resolutions stated.