BJP wing demands drought tag to 9 more districts

BHUBANESWAR: The BJP Krushak Morcha on Tuesday sought the intervention of Governor MC Bhandare for inclusion of nine more districts in the list of drought-hit.A delegation led by State Krushak Morcha  president Maheswar Sahu called on the Governor and submitted a 11-point charter of demands. The leaders told the Governor that the assessment of  crop situation by the Government was faulty. While the Government has announced special package to 99 blocks of 16 districts on the basis of eye estimate reports from district collectors, nine other affected districts were not taken into consideration. The Morcha wanted the drought-hit areas of Keonjhar, Gajapati, Mayurbhanj, Rayagada, Balasore, Kandhamal, Malkangiri, Sambalpur and Sundergarh be covered under the special package and revenue village be considered as a unit for crop insurance. The Morcha further demanded waiver of farm loan, compensation to farmers who suffered due to pest attack, free supply of agricultural inputs for rabi crops, amendment to the Orissa Relief Code and compensation of ` 5 lakh to the families of the farmers who committed suicide due to loan burden and crop loss. The Morcha demanded immediate dropping of Sindol project and adequate provisions should be made for construction of check dams on rivers and nullahs and tapping of natural sources for irrigation purpose. Instead of waiting for crop cutting reports, the Government should immediately provide compensation to the farmers who sustained crop loss due to sprouting blight, the delegation said. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who reviewed the crop situation at a high-level meeting here two days back, announced a special package of ` 65 crore for repair of 1,000 defunct lift irrigation points to ensure survival of standing crop. The Government also decided to provide 30,000 diesel pumpsets on subsidy to the farmers in the drought-affected areas and ` 5 lakh to each affected block for construction of cross-bundhs and check dams for irrigation. As per the eye estimate reports of the Government, 99 blocks in Angul, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Bolangir, Boudh, Cuttack, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Sonepur, Deogarh and Ganjam districts have been partially affected due to erratic rainfall.