New Delhi: Punjab on Monday demanded that the Centre should double the amount of compensation given under State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) for crop damaged beyond 50 per cent. The present limit of the compensation is Rs 6,000 per hectare. Keeping in view the rising input costs in agriculture and its vulnerability to adverse climatic challenges it becomes imperative to double the compensation amount immediately, Punjab's Revenue & Rehabilitation Minister Bikram Singh Majithia said at the two-day 'National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction' at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi.
He also advocated for a comprehensive techno-legal regime to limit the ill-effects of disasters through formation of effective policies, guidelines and by-laws and their strict enforcement by relevant state departments, local bodies, agencies and private establishments. Various states put forth their demands and suggestions to deal with disasters in the meeting held under chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Majithia lamented that the union government did not grant a single penny to state against a demand of Rs 5,112 crore as drought compensation.
He also demanded a raise in five per cent bar on SDRF for creation of Disaster Response Infrastructure to minimum 20 per cent so that required infrastructure could be created to meet any eventuality due to any calamity strike. The minister also demanded for provision of at least 10 per cent of SDRF money for preparatory or emergency flood protection measures.
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