Bengal government to pay family Rs 2 lakh in case of farmer's death: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the state government will pay Rs 2 lakh in case of death of a farmer. The money will be paid to the family in the case of death of any farmers aged between 18-60 years under 'Krishi Krishak Bandhu' scheme, which will come into effect on January 1. "We have a total of 72 lakh farmer families in the state. We do not want them to suffer. We will start the scheme from tomorrow and the farmers will be able to start applying from February," Banerjee said.

Under the same scheme, farmers will also get Rs 2,500 twice a year for growing a single crop per acre, she said.

“We have announced two programmes, the first is for crop insurance where the premium will be paid by state government. In the second one, we’ll give Rs 5,000 per acre annually to farmers, also in the case of death of a farmer between the age of 18-60 years, a compensation up to Rs 2 lakh will be given to the family,” Banerjee said.  

W. Bengal CM: We’ve announced 2 programmes; first is for crop insurance where premium will be paid by state govt. In second we’ll give Rs 5000 per acre annually to farmers, also in case of death of a farmer b/w age of 18-60, compensation up to Rs 2lakh will be given to the family pic.twitter.com/s8CyMu0sck

— ANI (@ANI) December 31, 2018

"We will spend more than hundreds of crores of rupees for the peasants under this scheme," she said.

The state government will spend the money from the budgetary allocation of the agriculture department, Banerjee added

Congratulates Sheikh Hasina

Banerjee also congratulated Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on her landslide victory in the general elections. Bangladesh went to polls on Sunday to elect a new Parliament, the results of which were declared in the morning.

Hasina cruised to victory for a third consecutive term as the ruling Awami League-led coalition bagged over 260 seats in the 300-member House.

The CM said she telephoned Hasina in the morning following the declaration of the result.

"The West Bengal government is happy that Sheikh Hasina won the elections. I have spoken to her personally and congratulated her. I also congratulate the people of Bangladesh," Banerjee told reporters.

(With agency inputs)