Bhubaneswar, June 3: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today directed officials to complete the exercise of disbursement of input subsidy and ex gratia assistance to farmers affected by drought and unseasonal rain by this month end.

During a video-conference with district collectors, the chief minister said: “Assistance should reach farmers before the commencement of khariff cultivation so that they do not face any difficulty in getting agricultural inputs.”

The directive came after the Orissa government drew flak from Opposition parties and various peasant bodies over the alleged delay in disbursement of input subsidy and ex gratia assistance to affected farmers.

Naveen asked the officials to involve public representatives in the process and pay special attention to “see that the real beneficiaries receive government aid”.

The chief minister was informed that disbursement of assistance to the farmers was going on in 23 districts affected by the 2010 unseasonal rain. The officials were advised to disburse at least Rs 1 crore everyday so that the exercise could be completed by the June 30 deadline.

The Orissa government has made a provision of Rs 700 crore for providing input subsidy and ex gratia assistance.

The district collectors drew the government’s attention to the difficulties they were encountering in the process. The chief minister had directed senior officials to take expeditious steps to sort out the problems, sources said. Last year on December 18, the chief minister announced a special package of Rs 900 crore for the farmers who sustained crop loss due to unseasonal and cyclonic rain.

The government was to give agricultural input subsidy to the farmers at Rs 2,000 per hectare for rain-fed areas, Rs 4,000 per hectare for irrigated areas and Rs 6,000 per hectare for perennial crops. Moreover, ex gratia was to be provided to the affected farmers who had suffered more than 50 per cent crop loss at the rate of Rs 2,000 per hectare.

When the Orissa government announced the package of assistance for the affected farmers, it banked upon the central assistance.

On December 23, Naveen had sought central assistance of Rs 2,616.19 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to provide relief to farmers affected by crop loss caused due to the unseasonal rain in the first week of December. Naveen placed the demand during his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on that day.

When the Orissa government faced Opposition flak during the Assembly’s budget session in March for the delay in disbursement of assistance for crop loss, the government tried to pass the buck on the Centre.Disaster management minister Surya Narayan Patro said the government had not the received a “single pie” from the Centre for the losses caused by drought and unseasonal rain in 2010.

However, on the very next day, Patro made a volte face stating in the House that central assistance to the tune of Rs 560 crore had been sanctioned this year for the above mentioned calamities. He even thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the gesture.