Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday ordered a special girdawari for the assessment of crop loss resulting from the untimely recent rainfall and storm in the state, even as the opposition parties — Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — demanded higher compensation for the farmers on crop loss.
Expressing concern over the losses, the Chief Minister ordered “urgent steps” to ascertain the extent of damage to crops so that due compensation could be awarded to the affected farmers at the earlier.
Chief Minister, in his directive to the concern departments and officials, asked them to commence, without delay, the process of conducting the special girdawari for damage assessment due to the weather disruptions.
The directions came hours after the former Chief Minister and Akali patriarch Parkash Singh Badal urged his successor to immediately order special “girdawari” to determine the magnitude of the farmers’ losses following bouts of unseasonal rains and storm “because revenue officials might soon get bogged down in poll duties and that might result in a dangerous delay in relief and compensation disbursal”.
Spokesperson said that the Chief Minister has directed that the assessment be undertaken and completed on priority.
Senior Badal, in his statement, stated that the farmers were already reeling under fiscal stress because of Capt Amarinder’s “betrayal” of them on complete waiver of all kinds of debt for every farmer in the state.
“Farmers trusted him as he took an oath in the name of Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji’s sacred ‘charan’. Their trust has been cruelly betrayed and they are completely heart-broken and under severe financial stress,” he said.
Demanding immediate interim relief and compensation to the beleaguered farmers, Badal said that under changed circumstances, every farmer must be paid a minimum of Rs 15,000 as compensation per acre.
“Not doing so would not only leave them with no penny to pay back crop loans and to buy inputs for the next crop but also make it impossible for them to meet daily expenses. That could only lead to desperate measures. The Government must step in to address the farmers’ frustration to avert the impending social tragedy,” he said.
FRAME FARMER-FRIENDLY POLICIES TO MITIGATE FARMERS' SUFFERINGS: AAP TO GOVT
Expressing serious concern over the unprecedented losses that the farmers in the state have suffered due untimely rains coupled with high velocity winds leaving their wheat crop worth lakhs flattened acres over acres, AAP on Wednesday demanded from the Central and the State Governments to frame farmer-friendly policies to mitigate farmers’ sufferings.
“Governments should float certain farmer-friendly insurance schemes and other to enable them to meet a crisis of this kind,” said AAP MLA and the Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Harpal Singh Cheema.
Cheema said that both the State and Central Governments should take an urgent call on the concerns of the farmers and bail them out from the serious farm crisis and financial mess they were trapped in forcing them to commit suicides due to heavy debts.
He urged the Government to get ‘girdawri’ done on a priority basis to assess the losses and release 100 percent compensation to the affected farmers within a time frame.
Cheema said that the untimely rain had destroyed a major chunk of wheat crop on Tuesday night ready for harvesting, and it had proved to be double whammy for the beleaguered community as they were already grappling with farm issues and concerns.
“While the impact of the rain was widespread in the state, it was more conspicuous in areas like Ropar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Fazilka, Kapurthala, Bhatinda and many more, where crops were totally destroyed incurring a loss of worth lakhs of rupees. In Ropar district only, 500 villages were affected where ripe wheat crops over 2000 acres of land was damaged by the wayward rains. A large number of distressed farmers from these villages held a ‘dharna’ to press the government for release of compensation,” he said.
