Agriculture Minister Shivraj Chouhan promises approval of package for 5,000 flood-hit rural houses in Jammu and Kashmir

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday promised to soon approve a package, including the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, for over 5,000 houses damaged in recent floods, landslides and rains in rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

Chouhan also assured the farming community that 7,000 farmers will get their insurance amount after completion of the survey, as his central team will sit with insurance companies for its full implementation.

“Houses too have suffered damage. Several houses, which are in rural areas and have broken down, there is a provision of Rs 1,30,000 for that under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Each rural house will get Rs 1.30 lakh under the scheme, plus a toilet and MNREGA wages of Rs 40,000, which my department will provide,” Chouhan, who is also Minister for Rural Development Ministry, said.

“Right now, the list that has come to me of houses being damaged is 5,101. After returning from here, I will approve these houses. People whose houses are broken will get this amount so that they can reconstruct them,” he added.

On crop losses, Chouhan assured farmers that nearly 7,000 insured cultivators would receive full compensation.

“As far as the matter of crop insurance is concerned, we have also talked to all the insurance companies. You survey at the grassroots level very properly so that farmers may not suffer loss from it,” he said.

“They should be fully compensated. That is why I have brought a team with me so that there may not be any shortcomings, nor any irregularity. Any negligence or irregularity will be an injustice to the affected farmer, and committing this injustice will be a very big sin,” he added.

Chouhan said officials from his ministry were already holding talks with insurance companies to settle claims. “Our officers have come here; they are sitting with the insurance companies. I will also sit with them so that no obstacle may come into this,” he said.

The minister announced that apart from the relief package, compensation would also be given for vegetable losses at Rs 17,000 per hectare, which would be provided by the state government under the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

Similarly, he said, “If cows and buffaloes have been swept away in the flood, then for milch animals there is a provision of Rs 37,000 per animal as compensation. If there are horses and oxen, then there is a provision of Rs 32,000 as compensation.”

Chouhan further announced financial support for NGOs and rural women self-help groups. “For affected NGOs or rural women who run their self-help groups, the government will give an amount of Rs 76 crore so that they too can definitely get help to revive their activities,” he said.

He also promised immediate support through central schemes. “We, under the Prime Minister Nidhi Yojana, are going to deposit into the accounts of Jammu and Kashmir farmers immediately,” he said.

“Under MGNREGA, we are going to increase mandays from 100 days to 150 days for providing jobs so that the people here may get more job opportunities.”

Reassuring the people of J-K, Chouhan said, “We have brought the prime minister’s message that in every possible way we will serve you. We are your servants. The pain that I have seen here, I will also present to the prime minister. What you have said, I will convey that to him, and complete help will be given from our side. We will rise again, stand up again and start walking again,” he reiterated.