The Central Government has agreed to provide ₹38.06 crore
compensation for the farmers affected by the ethnic conflict in Manipur that
has since May 3 left over 175 dead and around 50,000 displaced, said an
official.
State’s agriculture commissioner RK Dinesh said their priority now
is to expedite the process of releasing the money to the farmers by November.
The protracted violence has affected paddy cultivation. Officials
said farmers have been unable to cultivate at least 5,127 hectares of the State’s
1.95 lakh hectares of agricultural land. Bishnupur has been among the worst-hit
districts.
Dinesh said the number of farmers to be compensated will be
subjected to verification at the district level.
A survey of Loumee Shinmee Apunba Lup, a farmers’ body, found
around 9,719 hectares of paddy fields faced crop failure as farmers were afraid
to go into the fields because of sporadic firing. Insufficient rainfall has
also worsened the crisis.
