JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Government will shortly appoint a Farmers' Commission to look into difficulties faced by farmers and make recommendations for welfare of the peasant community. The Commission will submit its report to the Government within the next year.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, making the announcement at a Kisan Sammelan near Salumbar in Udaipur district, said the farmers had suffered losses amounting to Rs. 3,000 crores during the recent floods. She said the Government was trying to provide succour to the affected farmers "even though the Centre had given a meagre assistance of Rs. 100 crores".

Ms. Raje noted that farmers in Udaipur region had participated in large numbers in Jal Chetana Abhiyan this year, leading to the construction of over 58,000 water harvesting structures in the past six months. She said an ambitious scheme to plant 1 crore saplings in the district during the next monsoon season had been formulated. Ms. Raje announced that works on the Imli Ka Naka, Tindol and Barapal irrigation projects would be speeded up and completed during the current financial year. Besides, three river projects of Kotra and Kherwada regions worth Rs. 15 crores will be completed in the next financial year.

The Chief Minister said Rs. 54.77 lakhs had been sanctioned for the Gothra pick-up weir in Dhariawad and its feeder channel, which would facilitate extension of irrigation services in an area measuring 1,480 acres.Underli- ning the need for extending banking services in tribal-dominated regions in the district, she said a new branch of the cooperative bank would start functioning shortly at Jhadol sub-divisional headquarters, while the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur would open a branch at Kotra.

While pointing out that irrigation in most of the farms in the State still depended on tubewells, Ms. Raje said the power infrastructure had been strengthened to supply adequate electricity to farms.

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