Loss assessment of Rs 26 Crore done by State Government is laughable, says Pritam Singh
The Uttarakhand Congress has demanded that the Government should declare damage caused to the crops by the recent unseasonal rains and hail stones as natural disaster and announce a package of Rs 100 Crores for the affected farmers. In a statement issued before the meeting of Uttarakhand cabinet on Thursday, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Pritam Singh said that recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms has wrecked havoc on the standing crops both in the plain and mountainous areas of the state. He said that apart from damaging wheat in the fields the recent hailstorm has heavily damaged the fruit crops of mango, Lithci, apple, pear and plum in the state. Similarly the vegetables too have suffered heavy damage in the field. Singh said that the state government should come forward for the help of farmers and compensate the loss. He demanded that the state government should declare it as natural disaster and compensate farmers in this hour of crisis.
Terming the loss assessment of Rs 26 Crore done by the state government as laughable, Pritam Singh said that the assessment is done by sitting in the AC rooms of Dehradun and is far away from reality.
He said that this assessment of loss to the farmers also underlies the insensitivity of the state government toward farmers. Singh said that the farmers of the state have suffered losses of hundreds of Crores due to unseasonal rains and the state government should come out with a big relief package for the farmers.
The congress general secretary Vijay Saraswat said that last year 13 farmers had committed suicide and if state government fails to take appropriate steps now things could become worse this year. He added that the state government should also clear the pending dues of the sugarcane farmers.