PATNA: The state government would pay maximum compensation of Rs27,000 to a farmer for two hectares of crop damage in irrigated land and Rs13,600 for two hectares in non-irrigated land in the 19 districts hit by floods this year."The amount has been decided as per the standard rules fixed by the state disaster management department," said agriculture minister Prem Kumar. He said the standing rate for compensation is Rs13,500 per hectare in the irrigated land for such crops as paddy, maize and vegetables and Rs6,800 per hectare for crops like arhar, urad, mung and madua sowed on non-irrigated land. Besides, the compensation of Rs18,000 per hectare is payable for yearly cash crops like mango, guava, lychee, bananas and sugar cane. "However, a farmer will be compensated maximum for two hectares of crop damage," he added after the review of the crop damage by the floods in the state this year.Agriculture department principal secretary Sudhir Kumar, director (agriculture) Himanshu Kumar Rai and director (horticulture) Arvinder Singh, among others, accompanied him. "The payment of compensation will begin in a month. It will be paid to the farmers concerned through direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode," Sudhir said.The minister also said the state government has prepared a project for the reclamation and transformation of agriculture land that had been destroyed by sand deposits on them, mainly in Supaul and Araria districts during the 2008 Kosi flood disaster. The floods had otherwise hit four other districts. On the agriculture land in the core Supaul and Araria districts, four to six feet of sand deposits had been caused by the flood that occurred due to breach in eastern Kosi efflux bund in 2008."The purpose of the project is to remove the sand deposits and reclaim the land concerned for agriculture purposes," Prem said, adding that the agriculture department has prepared the project with World Bank aid worth Rs306 crore. He also said the floods this year caused similar problems in Kishanganj and Purnia districts. The agriculture department will send a team of officials to study the depth and extent of sand deposits in the two districts. "The project will be implemented in the four districts of Supaul, Araria, Kishanganj and Purnia," he said.The minister said the floods this year damaged crops in 8.10 lakh hectares of land. That included 6.95 lakh hectares of irrigated land, 46,675 hectares of non-irrigated land and 67,840 hectares of sugar cane. Cropwise, the damage included 6.67 lakh hectares of paddy, 42,201 hectares of maize and 67,840 hectares of sugar cane. In terms of money, crop worth Rs1,093.36 crore was damaged."These details are also included in the report submitted by the state government to the Centre for compensation," Sudhir said, adding that the details are from the land from which floodwaters receded.The minister said the state government's Kisan coordinators and other employees of the blocks concerned from where floodwaters had not yet receded yet would also send their own estimates, which would be in addition to the crop damage already calculated.

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