Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Saturday announced Rs 600 crore relief assistance benefiting five lakh farmers, whose crops on 3.10 lakh plus hectares were hit due to the recent back to back cyclones in Tamil Nadu. A norm that permitted relief only upto a maximum of two hectares has been relaxed in view of the losses suffered by cyclones and the assistance shall cover loss in its entire sector without any upper limit, CM Palaniswami said. 

The assistance would be directly credited to the bank accounts of farmers from January 7, he said in an official release. Palaniswami said agricultural and horticultural crops on 3,10,589.63 hectares were affected in Tamil Nadu due to the Nivar and Burevi cyclones witnessed during November-December last year. Farmers, who bore huge production cost, were hit badly due to the storms, Palanisami added. The Chief Minister increased aid, covered under input subsidy head, to Rs 20,000 from Rs 13,500 per hectare for rainfed and irrigated paddy and for other crops with irrigation amenities. 

The relief assistance per hectare has been raised from Rs 7,410 to Rs 10000 for paddy and for perennial crops from Rs 18000 to Rs 25000. The increased slab of assistance per hectare is based on the National Disaster Relief Fund guidelines and the quantum of hike over and above the NDRF stipulation shall be borne by the state government, Palaniswami said. Tamil Nadu has sought Rs 3,750.38 crore assistance for damage due to Nivar and Rs 1,514 crore for Burevi from the Central government. 

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