The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said the central government has taken a serious note of farmer suicides in Uttar Pradesh and has sent a group of ministers to assess the situation.
"Central Government has taken a serious note of it and this is the reason as to why Nitin Gadkari, Ananth Kumar, Ram Kripal Yadav and others ministers are visiting the state to take stock of the situation," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told ANI here.
"Under the SGRF, 75 percent funds are contributed by the Central Government and 25 percent by the state government and this fund is also with the state government," he added.
Patra asserted that the Centre has already asked the Uttar Pradesh government to spend this amount to any extend that they wish and after taking stock of the situation, the Centre will take a call as far as the relief is concerned.
The Uttar Pradesh Government has reportedly released an amount of Rs 300 crore to help the farmers who lost their crops due to unseasonal rain and hailstroms.
As per reports, crops in 40 districts have been damaged due to the bad weather with Mathura being declared the worst-hit district.
Over a dozen debt-laden farmers have committed suicide, and discontent in many rural areas against government policies is turning into anger against the government.
Unseasonal storms have badly damaged the winter crop in large parts of the fertile northern plains and villagers have blamed the government for not stepping in to help the distressed farmers or ensuring that crop prices remained stable.
