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Mangaluru: The central government has responded to the pain of the cultivators and agreed to the proposal of relief of Rs 60 crore for Dakshina Kannada and Rs 9.07 crore for Udupi district. Therefore, the cultivators who have applied will be scrutinized and will be given a relief of Rs 6,800 per acre.
In the back drop of MLA Harish Poonja’s question in the parliament on Dec 14th that the arecanut farmers of DK district have not yet received relief, the state government has distributed the money that has been provided by the central government.
Around 33,395 hectare farms in DK have been affected by Koleroga and to the report submitted by the horticulture department requesting the relief of Rs 60 crore as per the NDRF rules, the central government has provided the relief package. Accordingly, the taluk officials who had examined the applications of several applicants had released Rs 6 crore on Saturday. The remaining applications will be examined phase by phase from Monday and the fuds will be released accordingly. The Rs 9.07 crore proposal submitted from Udupi district has also been accepted, a few applications have been inspected and Rs 47 lakh has been released. The remaining will be examined on Monday and the relief will be distributed.
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Till now, the relief amount used to be distributed to the taluks through the district administration. But this time it has been decided to transfer the amount digitally and directly into the accounts of the applicants. For this, the taluk officials have begun reviewing the application submitted in their respective taluks. The work on uploading the applicants Aadhar, Bank account and other information into the software are in progress.
Maximum relief
After 2007 and 2013, this year there has been a major outbreak of koleroga. In 2007, 20,000 hectares of farmlands were affected by koleroga and Rs 4.59 crore has been released as relief. In 2013, 25,000 hectares of farm land was affected by the disease and Rs 30 crore package had been announced. This time, 33,395 hectares of farm land has been affected by the disease and a maximum relief of Rs 60 crore has been released for Dakshina Kannada.
Insufficient relief!
In 2018-19, around 33,595 hectares of farm land in DK have been affected by the disease and a total loss of Rs 252 crore has been incurred, approximated the state government. Presently according to the NDRF rules, Rs 60 crore has been released by the central government. But this amount is insufficient. The relief amount of Rs 6,800 being paid to the farmer who grows lakhs worth of yield in a farm of one acre is a pittance. The state and central government must provide even more relief opinion the cultivators.
Relief distribution
“As per the proposal submitted by DK district, Rs 60 crore have been released. The distribution has been started through software. The relief amount will be deposited into the accounts of the applicants within a few days,” said Sasikanth Senthil, DK DC
Loan wavier has not been done
“The Central government has released Rs 60 crore fron NDRF for the protection of the arecanut cultivators in DK. At least now the state government must announce a special package. It must come forward to completely wavier loan of the arecanut cultivators who have been affected by koleroga. The MSP and the complete research behind the reason for Koleroga must be happen through the state government,” said Harish Punja, MLA
Proposal accepted
“The government has agreed to the proposal of Rs 9.07 crore in connection to koleroga in Udupi district. Permission has been provided for the distribution of the relief. Data entry of the applicants will be conducted and details including Aadhar will be documented and the relief amount will be distributed,” informed Priyanka Mary Francis, Udupi DC
Article by Dinesh Ira translated into English by Aaron Dmello