Kolkata, Jan 3 (IANS): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the state would offer rural houses to five lakh families ahead of the panchayat elections scheduled to be held this year.

"Five lakh families of the state would be offered houses under the state government's 'Bangla Gramin Abas Yojna'. We would provide this on January 29 across districts," she said while addressing at the inauguration of the "Mati Utsav" (soil festival) at Burdwan to promote the farm sector.

Banerjee also said Rs 1,200 crore compensation is being extended to 30 lakh farmers and their family whose farm land was submerged or affected by the recent floods.

Around 79 lakh Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) have also been distributed, she said.

Banerjee also said state cooperative banks were asked to provide more farm loans as banks show reluctance to extend agricultural loans to farmers.

According to her, the state had provided a Rs 2,768 crore fund to cover more cropping area under irrigation and development at lower Damodar area which is often affected by floods.