Hooda demands compensation for damaged grain
The Congress leader said that despite the weather forecast, the state government did not take any steps to protect crops from rain.
Expressing concern over damage to foodgrains due to storm and rain, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday demanded compensation for farmers from the state government.
“Mandis are overflowing with wheat and farmers are forced to store their produce on roads. The government has barely lifted nine lakh tonnes of wheat so far whereas about four times of wheat is lying scattered in the mandi and on the roads waiting to be sold and lifted,” Hooda said in a statement.
“The BJP government did not make arrangements for gunny bags, tarpaulin and lifting,” he added.
The Congress leader said that despite the weather forecast, the state government did not take any steps to protect crops from rain. “Due to this, once again the rain wreaked havoc on the crops of the farmers and their wheat got submerged. Farmers from many areas across the state are being cheated and they have complained that some commission agents and agencies are tampering with the weighing of their crops,” he said.
Hooda said that crops have suffered heavy losses in almost every district of the state. Fires also occurred at many places due to the storm. Crops standing on hundreds of acres of farmers’ land fell prey to fire. Hooda said taking cognizance of such incidents, the government should compensate the farmers for their losses. “The government itself is also a major reason for this loss. If it had conducted the procurement and lifting in time, lakhs of tonnes of farmers’ crops could have been saved from natural disasters. But as always, BJP’s attitude towards farmers comes across as indifferent. Farmers across the state are bearing the brunt of this,” he said.