Pune: Over one crore farmers in the state are likely to be eligible for a drought relief payment of Rs5,000 each, with disbursement expected to begin from Monday, officials from the govt’s relief and rehabilitation department told TOI.Around 80% of the beneficiary verification process has been completed. Govt plans to transfer the amount to eligible farmers as and when their names are finalised, without waiting for the entire beneficiary list to be ready. These disbursements are expected to continue until Diwali.“Farmers whose panchnamas have been completed and whose details have been verified will have the amount transferred to their bank accounts. Work on the remaining panchnamas and verification will be completed in a week and disbursements will begin for those as well,” an official from the relief and rehabilitation department said.Govt is using Aadhaar-based digital farmer IDs under AgriStack to verify farmers and direct benefit transfer (DBT) to transfer the money to their respective Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. The total expenditure will be determined once the assessment and verification process is complete, officials said.The state has declared drought in 304 of its 358 talukas after recently adding 40 more to the list. Farmers in these talukas are eligible for 12 standard drought relief concessions, including crop loan restructuring, land revenue concessions, electricity bill relief and fee exemptions for farmers’ children.Cooperative banks and credit societies have also been cautioned against coercive loan recovery or harassment of farmers. Similar steps are being pursued for private banks and financial institutions.With groundwater levels in Marathwada falling below three metres in some areas, govt is preparing for an early deployment of GPS-enabled water tankers. Nearly 16,000 illegal water connections have also been disconnected to conserve drinking water supplies. For cattle, govt said it will buy fodder from suitable areas at the minimum support price to prevent depletion in many regions.
