Odisha CM seeks timely drought assistance from Centre

Bhubaneswar, Nov 21: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for timely financial assistance to combat the drought situation prevailing in the state.

In a letter to Modi, the chief minister said the state government has reduced the rate of interest on crop loans from 5 percent to 4 percent through interest subvention for small, marginal and medium farmers to arrest the drought situation.

“This will ultimately reduce the effective rate of interest on crop loans from the existing 2 percent to 1 percent in the case of prompt paying farmers,” he said.

The central government is providing crop loan to farmers at 7 percent of interest.

Meanwhile, union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan criticised the state government for not submitting a memorandum to seek central assistance for drought situation.

“Some states have already submitted memorandum and the centre has granted drought assistance. The Odisha government should first submit a memorandum with the centre seeking drought assistance and then resort to the blame game,” Pradhan told reporters here.   (IANS)