Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday said that he was personally monitoring the Government's expeditious response to the whitefly menace on a day-to-day basis to ensure that the affected farmers are compensated in a most transparent and expeditious manner.
“I am feeling the anguish of my farmers at the deeply personal level and this remains the top priority of the State Government. There would be a zero tolerance for any laxity or lapse found at any level in the Government machinery. We are one with the already beleaguered peasantry in their hour of crisis,” Badal said.
He said that the Government would fully stand by and compensate the hapless farmers of the State for the losses suffered by them to the cotton crop. “I have personally put the entire operation on the most-swift mode. `10 crore have already been released for the farmers who had ploughed their crop back because of the
total loss caused by the whitefly,” he said.
The process of compensation to the other affected farmers is also already on, said Badal, adding, “A special girdwari had been ordered and it is being carried out most expeditiously with instructions for completing it by 25th of this month.”
Badal was presiding over an emergency high-level meeting of the Revenue department to review the progress in the matter.
The meeting considered how the problem of 'whitefly' had been aggravated due to deficient rain during this season. In the previous years, the larva of 'whitefly' used to be washed away with torrential rain, and this, unfortunately, didn't happen this year, and that has led to substantial loss for the farming community, Government spokesperson said.
This had forced the farmers to plough back their cotton crop extensively damaged due to attack from whitefly in an area of 11,780 acres spreading over six districts of Malwa belt.
Out of total 4.50 lakh hectares area under cotton cultivation, the crop over 4,574 hectares had been 100 per cent damaged. The crop loss assessment (girdwari) had so far been conducted in nearly 1.36 lakh hectares of land.
The State Government had directed the Revenue department to cover the other crops like guar and vegetables besides cotton which had been worst affected by the whitefly for compensation on the similar pattern as followed in case of damaged cotton crop.
Badal said that the issue of supply of spurious pesticides to farmers would be thoroughly investigated. Already, Bureau of Investigation director have been asked to immediately take strict action against those dealers who supplied fake pesticides to dupe the innocent farmers.
Those who had played havoc with the interests of the farmers would be dealt with severely, he said.
Notably, the state police had already taken 208 samples of such substandard pesticides from the dealers in Malwa belt and an appropriate action would be taken against such erring suppliers after the enquiry.