Government should immediately compensate farmers for crops damaged due to hailstorm: Selja
 

Chandigarh, March 4.  

General Secretary of All India Congress Committee, former Union Minister, member of Congress Working Committee, former state president of Haryana Congress and in-charge of Uttarakhand, Kumari Selja said that due to the recent heavy hailstorms, crops of farmers have suffered a lot.  The farmers of the state, who were already facing the brunt of inflation, have now been hit by the weather. The government should immediately conduct a special Girdawari and give proper compensation to the farmers for the damage caused to the crops due to hailstorm so that the farmers can get some relief.  

In a statement issued to the media today, Kumari Selja expressed deep sorrow over the damaged crops of farmers in many districts of the state due to rain and heavy hailstorm, she said that the farmers are already going through severe financial crisis and now added is this natural disaster.  Due to this, farmers have suffered huge losses and their months of hard work have been completely wasted.  Wheat, mustard, gram, barley and many other crops have been damaged due to heavy hailstorm.  She said that the government, which claims to be farmer-friendly, did not utter a single word regarding the crops destroyed due to hailstorm, which makes it clear that this government is a government of mere words only. Firstly, in the name of crop insurance scheme, the government betrayed the farmers in a big way to benefit the insurance companies.  The insurance amount was deducted from the accounts of the farmers, but when it came to paying compensation, the insurance companies gave up.  What's more, the government maintained silence on this issue of farmers.

She said that today the condition of Annadata is very worrying and due to the anti-farmer policies of the BJP government, farming has become a complete loss-making deal as fertilizers, seeds, insecticides, diesel, agricultural equipment and farm labour have become very expensive.  Today the situation is such that most of the farmers of the country and the state are under heavy in debt.  The expenditure of the farmers of the state is much higher than their income.  The income of the farmers is running in loss and the condition of the farmers is going from bad to worse.  In her statement, Kumari Selja said that due to hailstorm and heavy rains in most parts of the state, the crops of the farmer brothers have suffered a lot.  Farmers have also suffered huge financial losses due to crop damage.  The loss of labour of the farmers cannot be compensated by any means, but I demand from the Haryana Government that the farmers should be given immediate compensation for the damaged crops so that they do not face any problem in running their livelihood.

Photo: Kumari Selja