Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today distributed crop insurance benefits among the 2015 drought affected farmers in Bargarh district. The farmers were agitating since a long time demanding crop insurance benefits following massive crop loss due to drought during the 2015 kharif season. Patnaik said a total 11.61 lakh farmers across the state will receive Rs 1,776 crore as crop insurance for Kharif season of 2015. Addressing a meeting at Bargarh, he said more than one lakh farmers in the district will get Rs 276 crore as crop insurance in coming days while highest amount of Rs 370 crore will go to the farmers of Bolangir district. While farmers of Sambalpur will get Rs 100 crore, Rs 166 crore will be distributed among the cultivators in Kalahandi district. The state government started the process for disbursal of crop insurance amounts among six lakh farmers of 10 districts located in the western part of the state, an official release issued by the CMO said. This apart, Patnaik said the state govenrment has transfered Rs 100 per quintal of paddy as the special aid for drought last year. He said the promises made regarding the special aid have been fulfilled. Patnaik said he has directed the district collectors to ensure that farmers do not face any difficulties at the procurement centres during the paddy purchase. "My government has been working to safeguard the interest of the farmers and the same will continue," he said. Referring to Mahanadi water dispute, Patnaik said Chhattisgarh has hurt the interest of the farmers of Odisha by constructing projects on its upstreamr. He alleged that the neighbouring state has conspired to supply water to industries at the cost of farmers of Odisha. Odisha government has asked the Centre to form a tribunal to address the issue of river water sharing between states, he said. Source - http://www.business-standard.com