Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday declared the crop loss due to unseasonal rains a “natural disaster”.

He said all farmers who lost their crops would be given monetary assistance from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

The unseasonal rains from December 20 to December 26 severely affected ready-to-harvest paddy crops in 20 state districts. The crop loss claimed the lives of seven farmers. Farmers died either of heart attack or committed suicide seeing the huge crop loss in their fields.

“No government had ever declared the crop loss due to unseasonal rain as Natural Disaster. Now all the farmers will be given assistance from the SDRF. Those farmers who have suffered crop loss of more than 33 per cent are entitled to assistance from the SDRF. Around ₹291.59 crore would be disbursed to the farmers,” he said.

Around 6.66 lakh farmers have reportedly suffered crop loss. The crop loss was reported in 2.26 lakh hectares of land. He also assured the farmers that they will also be assisted under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

During his half-hour speech, Majhi targeted his predecessor, Naveen Patnaik and his Bengal counterpart, Mamata Banareeje. Majhi was perturbed after Naveen Patnaik started visiting different areas to assess the crop loss. He met farmers and criticised the Majhi government for its failure to provide them with timely assistance and information in advance about the unseasonal rainfall.

A huge turnout was noticed during Naveen’s visit to different areas, putting the Mohan Majhi government on the back foot. People even started targeting Mohan Majhi, terming Naveen as a mass leader.

Majhi took the opportunity to target Naveen. “Naveen Patnaik government had launched mission after mission including potato mission and jackfruit missions. However, the missions failed and the farmers did not get any help. The operation was successful but the patient died,” Majhi quipped.

Majhi said: “The Naveen government had even announced to give ₹100 bonus on each quintal of paddy. But the farmers never got it. Since they failed to do any work for the farmers, they are now sitting in Opposition.”

Minister of revenue and disaster management, Suresh Pujari, said that Odisha had been a victim of natural disasters and was trying to overcome it. He also pointed out how the Odisha government is giving ₹3,100 as the minimum support price for the procurement of one quintal of paddy.