Keepinginview the interest of farmers bearing the brunt of poor rains, seven more tehsils were declared drought affected in the state, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Premprakash Pandey said today.
These tehsils are Premnagar, Odigi and Bhaiyathan of Surajpur district, Jashpur and Bagicha (Jashpur), Dhamdha (Durg) and Bastanar (Bastar).
With this, a total of 117 teshils in 26 districts have been declared drought-affected.
As per the provisions of revenue book circular, compensation will be distributed to farmers of drought-hit areas by next month and specific directives in this regard have been given to Collectors of respective districts, Pandey said.
The government has also decided to provideone quintal of paddy seeds each todrought-hit farmers in the next kharif crop season which would cost Rs 200-300 crore to the government exchequer.
Besides,farmers in the state who are provided free electricity supply of 7,500 units per year for their agricultural pumpsof 3-5 horse power will now get free power upto 9,000 units, he said.