Haryana Government has announced compensation of Rs1,092 crore to farmers affected by inclement weather conditions, to be disbursed by May 15. Chief Minister Manohar lal on Tuesday said that out of the total compensation, the State Government would contribute Rs372 crore whereas Rs720 crore would be shared by Centre to compensate the farmers’ loss.
While addressing a Press conference here, Manohar lal said that the State Government is providing relief of about Rs2,000 crore to compensate the farmers which include Rs1,092 crore for the loss of their crop due to untimely rains and hailstorm this year and Rs500 crore for sugarcane growers besides waiving off their tubewell electricity bills and rescheduling of their short term loans.
Haryana Government in its special girdawari (crop damage assessment) report till April 22 has assessed crop damage to over 13 lakh acres in the state because of untimely rains and hailstorm. Out of which, 3.17 lakh acres was hit with crop loss between 76 to 100 per cent, 1.92 lakh acres with crop loss between 51 to 75 per cent and 8.24 lakh acres between 25 and 50 per cent.
Noting the huge crop loss due to adverse weather conditions, he said that the administrative machinery of the State has also been pressed into service for effective monitoring of compensation distribution process which is going to be started in all districts between May 1 and 15. He said that a sum of Rs10,000 crore would be available for providing short term loans for year 2015-16.
In a veiled dig at the previous Congress-led State Government for “unwarranted delay” and paying “paltry” sum of compensation to farmers for their damaged crops, the Chief Minister said, “How insensitive the previous State Government was to farmers’ problems could be gauged from the amount of compensation paid as it was not the first time natural calamity wrecked havoc in the State,”
Khattar alleged that just Rs18 crore was disbursed among farmers in year 2011-12 followed by Rs47 crore in 2012-13 and Rs95 crore in 2013-14. In 2014-15, Rs243 crore was given to farmers after we (BJP) came to power. We released Rs22 crore for crop loss in September 2013 and Rs97 crore for the loss in March 2014 after coming to power, he added.
“There had been delay of two years in disbursing compensation amount to affected farmers. Administrative machinery will be deployed to ensure rain—hit farmers get their due compensation by May 15, he said. Accepting that the lifting process of wheat is slow in grain markets, Manohar lal said that the issue would be resolved in a couple of days.
Drawing a comparison between Haryana and neighbouring State Punjab, the Chief Minister claimed that the State Government took so many steps in the interest of affected farmers. Khattar also welcomed the comments of Congress leader Manish Tewari who on Sunday in ludhiana had appreciated the steps taken by Haryana Government in the interest of farmers.
The State Government is likely to achieve its wheat procurement target of 65 lakh MT by the end of this week. Manohar lal said that 49.52 lakh metric tonnes wheat is already being lifted by State procurement agencies so far.
On the issue of giving compensation to families of farmers who had allegedly committed suicide because of crop loss,. Khattar said that it was very difficult to find out the actual reasons behind anyone taking the extreme step.
“It is always painful if somebody dies. It is difficult to know the reasons of one committing suicide which may be because of old debt, poor financial condition,” he said.