Compensate farmers for losses: Hooda to state govt
SAYS THE GOVT SHOULD GIVE RELIEF TO FARMERS BY GETTING A SPECIAL ‘GIRDAWARI’ OF THE LOSS DONE AT THE EARLIEST
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday sought
compensation for farmers whose crops were damaged due to waterlogging.
In a statement, Hooda said crops of farmers in many districts have suffered heavy losses due to the incessant rains in the last few days. “Crops of cotton, bajra, maize, pulses and vegetables have been damaged due to waterlogging. The government should give proper compensation to the farmers by getting a special ‘girdawari’ of the loss done at the earliest. For the past several seasons, farmers have been facing crop loss due to unseasonal rains, locusts and other reasons but the government is constantly shunning its responsibility of compensation. Crores are being recovered from farmers every season in the name of crop insurance scheme, but they are not getting anything in return,” the former chief minister said.
Hooda said the government had announced an incentive of ₹7,000 per acre to farmers for sowing crops other than paddy but farmers are waiting for this amount till date. Even before this, the government had talked about giving an amount of ₹5,000 per acre but no amount was given to any farmer even then. In such a situation, the farmers have lost faith in the government,” he said.
The leader of the Opposition said that a large number of farmers are leaving paddy and growing maize but those farmers neither get the incentive amount announced by the government, nor is maize procured at MSP. “Maize has an official MSP of ₹1,850 per quintal but it is being bought for ₹1,000-1,100. Due to this, the farmers are suffering double losses,” he said and demanded that the government compensate farmers for this loss.
Hooda said that inflation is at its peak and rising prices of petrol and diesel have derailed household budgets.
“The poor, middle class and farmers are suffering the most because of this. The state government should give immediate relief to the people by reducing the VAT rates,” he said.