Gandhinagar, Jun 11 (IANS): Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Thursday approved the Mukhyamantri Kisan Sahay Yojana for 2021, which is claimed to be beneficial for around 53 lakh farmers in the state.

According to the scheme, those farmers whose Kharif crops are damaged will receive financial assistance. Accordingly, farmers whose 33 to 60 per cent crops have been damaged in the limit of four hectares will be provided Rs 20,000 per hectare.

Those who have lost more than 60 per cent of crops will receive a financial assistance of Rs 25,000 per hectare up to a limit of four hectares.

Rupani informed that the farmers will avail the benefits of this scheme without paying anything for the premium. All those land holding farmers under the Forest Rights Act of Vanbandhu (tribal) will also benefit from this scheme.

The government also informed that soon a web portal will be launched which will be dedicated to receive applications for the scheme, which could be filed through the e-gram centres.

The government will bear the expense for the filing of applications. A toll-free number will also be announced soon to address farmers' queries related to the scheme.

The government informed that the scheme is in addition to the financial assistance under the State Disaster Response Force provisions.