State Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Ganesh Joshi today reviewed the damage caused to the crops of farmers due to excessive rains by holding a meeting with the officials of Agriculture and Horticulture Department in his camp office. During this, he took detailed information about the damage caused to the crops. Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi said that the damage to the crops should be surveyed regularly and a report should be made available to the Ministry every day. The Agriculture Minister clearly told the officials that the paperwork should be completed soon as per the standards of the Government of India and compensation should be provided to the farmers. He said that providing immediate relief to the farmers affected by the disaster is the first priority of the government. In the meeting, the officials informed that horticultural crops have been damaged in an area of 12,272.74 hectares in the state due to excessive rains. Of these, a total area of 4,797.49 hectares has been recorded in the damage category of more than 33 percent, which includes irrigated area 1,394.90 hectares and non-irrigated area 3,402.66 hectares. The area of damage to horticultural crops was recorded to be 6.10 hectares in Dharali Gram Sabha of Bhatwadi development block of Uttarkashi district. Similarly, agricultural crops have been damaged in an area of 339.47 hectares in the state, of which 45 hectares were recorded as the area with more than 33 percent damage. Officials said that this loss is more than 33 percent as per the disaster standards of the Government of India and comes under the category of compensation distribution. Departmental officials also informed that due to waterlogging in the fields in Haridwar district and Khatima of Udham Singh Nagar in the Terai region, the assessment could not be done, which will be done soon. Agriculture Minister Joshi told the officials that any kind of negligence in providing relief to the affected farmers will not be tolerated. He said that the state government is standing with the farmers in this hour of crisis and the process of compensation distribution will be started soon. Joint Director of Agriculture Department Dinesh Kumar and Director Horticulture Mission Mahendra Pal were present in the meeting.
