Enumerate crop loss due to rains, pay compensation: RSV to TS govt

Hyderabad: Following the huge crop loss suffered by farmers of the state due to the incessant rains last week, an NGO working for farmers' rights, Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV), on 23 July said the government should immediately visit the villages and take note of the crop loss.

RSV activist Kiran Kumar Vissa said, "The farmers, if they lose crops to rain, will either think of giving up in which case they will not have any alternate means of livelihood or will think of sowing another crop. This might require some investment. This is the time when the government should intervene."

RSV pointed out that the farmers have not been compensated for the past few years. "The only exception was in 2018 when RSV filed a petition in the High Court. The government was then forced to distribute compensation but only a meagre Rs. 23 crores. For the unprecedented floods of 2020, no compensation was given despite the High Court order in the RSV case," explained Kiran.

He added, "Similarly, there was no compensation for heavy rains and floods in July and September 2021. In the hailstorm of January 2022, though the agriculture minister visited the chilly and fruit farmers in Warangal and promised support, nothing was given. When there was extensive damage to chilly crops due to thrips pest attack during early 2022, the CM promised disaster compensation in the Assembly but nothing has reached them yet."

No enumeration of crop loss

More importantly, the government has not done any enumeration in the last four years, said RSV. Even when the Centre released disaster relief funds, the state was unable to distribute them as it had not completed the enumeration.

"Ideally, the enumeration should happen in the next week or 10 days. There is no point in visiting after that as we don't know if the damage persists," said Sree Harsha. They also emphasised on the importance of meeting every farmer and taking note of their damages instead of just visiting a village and taking an estimate of the area of land damaged.

According to the preliminary reports from the government, a total of 11 lakh acres were damaged across the state in last week's rain. In Adilabad alone officials estimated 1.03 lakh acres of loss whereas the preliminary estimate is 34,000 acres in Mancherial, 45,000 acres in Asifabad, 32,600 acres in Bhupalpally, and 25,200 acres in Bhadradri Kothagudem.

State-Centre tussle

RSV also took a dig at both the state and Centre for blaming each other and not doing anything for the farmers. "The State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) is the primary aid for disaster relief; after that comes the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). Without the state giving any aid, it cannot blame the Centre for not providing assistance. Also, their own records show that the SDRF had a balance of Rs. 977 crores in March 2020. If there is a balance in the SDRF, the Centre would not extend any assistance through the NDRF," said Kiran.

RSV said the Centre was also not generous with its disaster relief funds. The state had sought Rs. 552 crores after the floods of October 2020 but the Centre gave only Rs. 245.96 crores. The Centre also did not give any explanation for the reduced amount of funds allocated.