Come clear on compensation to flood-hit farmers, High Court tells Telangana

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court directed the state government to submit details of compensation it had paid to farmers whose crops were damaged during the October 2020 floods.

The apex court was dealing with a petition filed by the Telangana government. The government filed an appeal against the orders of the Telangana High Court in September 2021, directing the government to immediately enumerate the farmers who suffered severe crop loss in October 2020 and complete the distribution of compensation within four months.

In their PIL, Vissa Kiran Kumar and others from Rythu Swarajya Vedika brought to the notice of the court that the state government had not paid a single rupee to farmers, even after appropriate assessment which showed that crops were damaged in 15 lakh acres dealing a financial blow of Rs 3,000 crore.

When the matter came before the apex court, counsel for the government submitted that the government transferring money to each farmer as part of input subsidy.

Not happy with the contention, the bench issued notice to the government to file rejoinder to the counter-affidavit of the respondents within three weeks.