After his review of Mayiladuthurai and Cuddalore districts affected by the unprecedented rains in the current North East Monsoon season, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday requested the Centre to extend the cut-off date for enrolment of paddy II crop in 27 districts in the state under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana from November 15 to 30.
During his review on Monday, he observed that the enrolment of farmers for the crop insurance scheme could not progress smoothly for various reasons.
"The enrolment of farmers during special (Samba/Thaladi/Pishanam) season, which started from September 15, 2022, was proceeding well but could not be taken up continuously as a large number of farmers were not able to access the services of Common Service Centres and Financial Institutions due to continuous holidays for Navaratri and Diwali followed by incessant rains and most of the rivers were also in spate due to Northeast Monsoon and resultant power disruption," Stalin said.
Hence, the farmers in these districts have represented to extend the cut-off date from November 15 to 30, as the sowing of Paddy II in the current year is delayed, he said in a letter addressed to Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar, a copy of which was made available to the media here today.
"Hence, I request the Government of India to extend the cut-off date for enrolment of Paddy II crop growing in 27 districts to help a large number of farmers of major paddy cultivating districts of Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Tiruvarur, Cuddalore, Pudukottai, Madurai, Karur, Salem, Tiruppur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Ramanathapuram, Theni, Trichy, Ariyalur, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupathur, Tiruvannamalai, Erode, Dharmapuri, Villupuram, Tiruvallur, Kallakurichi, Perambalur and Sivaganga," he said.
(With PTI input)
