Date:20/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/20/stories/2008032056410100.htm

New Delhi

Central team to assess crop damage

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A Central team will be sent to Kerala to take stock of the damage caused to crops by the recent rain that lashed several districts of the State. An assurance to this effect was given by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to a delegation of Members of Parliament from Kerala here on Wednesday.

The delegation met the Minister to apprise him of the extent of damage caused to standing crop by the rain and seek immediate financial aid to the tune of Rs.50 crore.

The delegation included P. Karunakaran, K. Chandran Pillai, C.S. Sujatha, K.S. Manoj, C.K. Chandrappan, Francis George, T.K. Hamza, K. Suresh Kurup, P. Sathee Devi, S. Ajay Kumar and Chengara Surendran.

Kuttanad package

Special Correspondent adds from Thiruvanantha- puram:

Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran said on Wednesday that the State government had made arrangements for implementing the Rs.1,840-crore Kuttanad Development Package, which had been accepted ‘in principle’ by the Union Agriculture Ministry. To a submission from K.K. Shaju in the Assembly, the Minister said the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had given an assurance in the Lok Sabha that the package would come up before the Union Cabinet for its approval very soon.