Government of Punjab Department of Relief and Rehabilitation (ERTL Branch)

From

Financial Commissioner Revenue,

Punjab, Chandigarh

To

1. All the Commissioners of Divisions in the State.

2. All the Deputy Commissioners in the State

3. All the Sub Divisional Officers(c) in the State

Memo No.5/49/87-ERTL-V/11726

Chandigarh dated the 6/11/1987

Sub: Instructions for disbursement of relief to the farmers and landless persons who have suffered damage to their crops during Kharif 1987.

As you are aware Punjab had hardly recovered from the serious natural calamity caused by heavy rains / hailstorms in the months of April and May 1987 which had caused extensive damage to the ripened and harvested wheat crop in 9 out of 12 districts, that another serious natural calamity in the shape of Drought which has had no paralled in the past several decades be fell the state. After getting reports from the field, the drought affected areas were identified as Ropar, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur and parts of Patiala district in the Kandi belt and the districts of Sangrur, Bathinda, Faridkot and Ferozepur in the water scarcity zone. A Central Team headed by the Additional Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture visited some of the affected districts on 10-11/9/1987. The State Govt’s proposals on drought relief submitted to the Central Govt through its memoranda were considered in the wrap up meeting on 12/9/87. In early Sept 1987 Deputy Commissioners were requested to undertake special girdawari to identify the areas left unsown during Kharif, 1987 compared to Kharif 1986. They were also asked to assess the extent of damage caused to the Kharif crops (above 25% and upto 50%, 51% and upto 75% and above 75%) during the normal Kharif girdawari.

2. As you are already aware, the State Government has announced a bonus of Rs. 17/- per quintal on paddy sold in notified mandis by Punjab farmers this year.

3. For farmers who had sown non paddy crops and for small and marginal farmers who have not been able to sow some acres during Kharif 1987 compared to Kharif 1986, Government has decided to provide the following types of Drought Relief:

“Input subsidy for small and marginal farmers for areas remaining unsown during Kharif 1987”

Small and marginal farmers holding land not exceeding 5 acres (Whether irrigated or unirrigated, whether as owners, tenants or mortgagees) will be provided input subsidy in kind at the rate of Rs. 350/- per acre in the shape of seed, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. through MARKFED. Assessment lists of eligible small and marginal farmers will be drawn up by the Deputy Commissioners and made available to the District Manager, MARKFED. Markfed will arrange lifting of inputs by eligible small and marginal farmers against their entitlement and will subsequently file a copy of their disbursement record for audit purposes with SDO(c) by 31/12/1987.

Relief for damage to non paddy crops in State

As in Rabbi 1987, crop damage relief is to be provided for damage to non paddy crops in the cases where the damage exceeds 25%, at the same scales as were applicable to the wheat crops damaged during April-May 1987. This relief will be given khatauni wise and upper limit will be 5 acres per khatauni. If there are more than one farmers in a single khatauni, the relief will be given to them pro-rate. Farmers will include owners, tenants and mortgagees with possession.

Farmers

Relief in cash to the farmers on account of damage to crops due to drought during Kharif 1987

(a) Where the loss to crops exceed 75% Rs.700 per acre

(b) Where the loss to crops exceeds Rs.400 per acre

50% but does not exceed 75%

(c) Where the loss to standing crops Rs.200 per acre

exceeds 25% but doe not exceed

50%.

(d) Where the loss does not exceed 25% Rs. Nil

This relief will be disbursed through Account Payee Cheques.

4. Fodder relief for landless cattle owners and marginal farmers, cattle owners

Landless cattle owners & Marginal farmers who are also cattle owners, in the Kandi areas are proposed to be given fodder relief at the rate of Rs. 30 per adult animal and at Rs.15/- per calf subject to an over all ceiling of 8 animals per family. This relief will be disbursed in cash through Account Payee Cheques. Subject to availability of funds, small farmers and Marginal farmers in the Kandi areas may also be given such relief.

5. Guidelines for preparation and verification of assessment lists

(i) The assessment lists of landowners/cultivators and of landless cattle owners, eligible for relief, would be prepared on the basis of special and general girdawari carried out during Sept.-Oct. 1987 separately in the prescribed proforma. These lists should bear the certificates from the Circle Revenue Officer about their authenticity. Every page of the list should be countersigned by SDO (C) concerned. The lists should be prepared in duplicate, one copy of which would be maintained n the office of SDO(c) concerned and the other given to the Circle Revenue Incharge of the disbursement of relief.

(ii) 10% check of these lists should be conducted by the SDO(c) himself as per general instructions on the subject.

6. The relief shall be disbursed strictly in cash and kind to the eligible farmers, tenants and mortgagees with possession through account payee’s cheques to be delivered to them by Sub Divisional Officer (C) or Circle Revenue Officer concerned. The following procedure shall be followed :

(i) The disbursement shall normally be made by the Sub Divisional Officers(c) and the Circle Revenue Officers. However, other Naib Tehsildars may also be authorised to do this work by the Deputy Commissioners concerned.

(ii) Each Disbursing Officer should be given a specified number of villages for the purpose of disbursement and his detailed programme of disbursement should be available at the Sub Divisional headquarters and District headquarters.

(iii) Disbursement should be made only in the village assembly in the presence of village elders i.e. Lambardars/Sarpanches and Panches, etc.

(iv) Publicity should be made about date, place and time of disbursement in the village atleast two days in advance. The entry to this effect should also be made in the Roznamcha Waqiati.

(v) Disbursement should be made at one go for the farmers/tenants mortgagee with possession simultaneously.

(vi) The share of land owners/tenants/sindis shall be apportioned amongst them according to the entries in the revenue record or as agreed to by both the parties or the customary terms of tenancy etc.

(vii) It has been noticed that at some of the places in the state, although the cultivation is made by the tenant but the entries in the revenue record are in the name of the landowners as “self cultivation”. It has been decided that discreet enquiries should be made by the Disbursement Officers in this respect. They may prepare individual files and keep a note about their verification which should be duly authenticated by them. On the basis of this verification, the share of relief should be appointed between the landowners and the actual cultivator-tenant interse in the ratio in which they would have otherwise distributed their crops. The files should then be consigned alongwith other Disbursement Records in the Record Room so as to be available at the time of enquiry into any complaint, as and when required.

(viii) The Disbursement Officer shall be personally responsible for correctness of the lists and the truthfulness of the disbursement. After completing the disbursement on the date notified, he shall certify about the factum of disbursement and the total amount disbursed, in the Disbursement Register. No interpolation in these lists should be made. Overwriting should be avoided.

(ix) Payments should be made only through payees A/C Cheques. To ensure the availability of requisite number of Cheque Books, adequate funds with the banks concerned and prompt payment by the banks on the production of cheques at the counter, the Deputy Commissioners should tie up with the banks located in the Districts and finalise modalities. The services of Nationalised Banks, Co-operative Banks and Land Mortgage Banks should be utilised to the maximum extent for this purpose.

7. Supervision and Checking

Besides the Sub Divisional Officers (c), Deputy Commissioners and Commissioners of Divisions may either themselves conduct intensive tours of the area in their jurisdiction to supervise the disbursement of relief on Drought. They should ensure that the instructions issued by the government are meticulously followed and the time of schedule notified is strictly adhered to. The State government shall also depute some officers from the headquarters to coordinate and supervise the overall arrangements relating to disbursement of Drought relief.

8. Disposal of complaints

The Sub Divisional Officer(C ) and Deputy Commissioners should ensure that a proper record of all the complaints received about the assessment/disbursement of relief, is maintained and its regular monitoring is down. Weekly reports about the number of complaints pending, number of complaints received and disposed of, may be sent to the State Government as before. As far as possible, it should be ensured that such complaints are attended to within the shortest period say 7-10 days and are not allowed to remain pending for more than a fortnight.

9. Monitoring

(i) The Divisional Commissioners should monitor the progress of disbursement of relief regularly in this respect and ensure that the time schedule is strictly followed.

(ii) One of the Additional Deputy Commissioners at headquarters should be designated by the Deputy Commissioners as Nodal Officer for monitoring the progress of Disbursement of Relief in the District and reporting the same to the government and to the Divisional Commissioner every Monday. His name, designation, telephone Nos. (both office and residence) should be intimated to the government.

10. Avoiding of mistakes pointed out by Audit

Audit parties sent by Accountant General, Punjab for conducting Audit of the disbursement of relief on account of Natural Calamities have generally pointed out the following type of objections :

(i) While disbursing of relief, land ceiling imposed by Govt is not strictly followed leading to excess payment.

(ii) Assessment lists are not properly prepared, checked and countersigned.

(iii) Registers regarding accounts of disbursement are not property maintained.

(iv) Disbursement certificates in respect of relief disbursed are not sent promptly to Accountant General (Audit).

(v) Audited and certified figures of expenditure are not sent in time, resulting in delay in the reconciliation of accounts.

The Deputy Commissioners and Sub Divisional Officer (C ) should ensure that the assessment and disbursement record is correctly maintained in the proforma already enclosed with the Punjab Government instructions dated 23/5/1987 with necessary modifications, separately for input subsidy, relief for damaged cropped area and subsidy for fodder. The audit objections pointed out above and also those indicated in the earlier audit note should be taken care of and the mistakes are not repeated.

11. Time schedule for various activities

The preparation and verification of assessment lists of farmers and cultivators should be completed by 31st October 1987.

The disbursement of relief in cash should be taken up from 20th November 1987 and completed within a month by 20/12/1987. The complete Disbursement Records should be consigned to the record room of Sub Divisional Officer (C ) by 31/12/1987. Deputy Commissioners should send their detailed write up regarding the successful completion of relief work to the government by the 15th January 1987, in the proforma mutatis-Mutandis already circulated.

12. At the time of preparation of assessment lists and the disbursement of relief during Rabi 1987, certain clarifications were sought by the Deputy Commissioners which were given by the State Government from time to time. The gist of the various points raised and the clarifications issued by the State Government in regard to the instructions on Relief to farmers on account of heavy rains & storms etc. is given in the Annexure-I.

13. The receipt of these instructions may please be acknowledged immediately.

Joint Secretary to Govt Punjab

Revenue department