In an apparent bid to woo farmers ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Gujarat government on Thursday announced a hike in the accidental death compensation to farmers.
The amount has been increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. In case of any serious injury, the amount has been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. A post-mortem will be necessary for the family to avail the benefit.
Announcing the revision in Gandhinagar on Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said that until now only those farmers, whose names were on government records, and their spouses were covered under the scheme. Now, the entire family of the farmer will be covered.
An estimated 2.49 crore persons are expected to benefit from this revision.
Two days ago, Patel had said that an announcement that would benefit the farmers will be made. However, the farmers were expecting loan waiver or any other measure like reducing electricity prices.
The opposition Congress has been cornering the BJP government with a demand of loan waiver for the farmers. Pro-quota stir leader Hardik Patel had undertaken a 19-day fast and one his demands was waiving the farmer loans.
Congress leader and MLA Virjibhai Thummar described the government announcement as “routine” and said that the state government was just not talking anything about farm loan waiver.
Farmers' leader Sagar Rabari said the government's announcement is a disappointment and added that at least a partial loan waiver should have been taken into consideration.
He held that a similar announcement was made when Anandiben Patel was the chief minister and it is a “shame” that it is now being implemented.
However, on Wednesday, the Gujarat government increased the salaries of MLAs by 65 per cent.
