The state government on Thursday announced relief measures for fruits and vegetable farmers who suffered losses due to the dip in demand during the COVID-19 lockdown. These farmers will get a total of Rs 137 crore as compensation.
While vegetable farmers had suffered losses on 50,083 hectares of land, fruits on 41,054 hectares of land were lost, Law Minister J C Madhuswamy said after the Cabinet meeting which decided the relief measures. Each farmer will get Rs 15,000 per hectare for the losses suffered.
Speaking to reporters later, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced an additional compensation of Rs 25 crore weavers working in 1.15 lakh power looms in the state. “Every person will get Rs 2,000 assistance,” Yediyurappa said. “We’re also aware that maize farmers are in distress. I will discuss what we can do for them,” he said.
In other decisions, the Cabinet also approved a “design-build-finance-operate-transfer” project of Integrated Transport Hub at Pumpwell, Mangaluru under PPP model at an estimated Rs 445 crore. Administrative approval of Rs 14.3 crore was given for a detailed project report on construction of a balancing reservoir near Navile village as an alternative for resolving the issue of the storage capacity of the Tungabhadra reservoir.