Bhubaneswar, Nov 19: With number of farmer suicides increasing with each passing day and agricultural activities took a hit in 139 blocks of 21 districts of Odisha due to scanty rainfall, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday reviewed the drought like situation in the state.
Rs 18 crore has so far been provided to drought-hit farmers as input subsidy, the meeting was informed which also decided to extend the period for repayment of loan by one year and four years for the farmers who have suffered 33 per cent and 50 per cent crop loss respectively.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to exempt Plus II and high schools students from paying tuition fees in drought-hit areas and wave off 50 per cent of water tax.
Meanwhile, expressing concern over the low credit-deposit (CD) ratio in the current financial year, Odisha government has asked the banks to increase it to at least 85 per cent.
The state government has urged the banks to increase the CD to the level of more than 85 per cent, senior official said.
Notably, by September, 2015 the CD ratio in Odisha has been recorded at 70 per cent against 74 per cent during the corresponding period of 2014.
Though, the overall CD ratio in the state is above the benchmarking ratio of 60 per cent, in some districts it is found below 40 per cent. The Lead Branch Managers (LDM) of the districts having CD ratio below 40 per cent have been asked to constitute sub-committees of the DCC and take necessary steps to scale up the CD ratio.
