STATE TIMES NEWS
BISHNAH: Senior Congress leader and member AICC, Mohinder Bhardwaj has said that the farmers and orchardists have suffered immense loss to their crops and produce due to unprecedented and unseasonal rains/hailstorm that have lashed the entire Jammu region and in particular the paddy growing belt all along the International Border (IB) in Bishnah- R S Pura and Samba belt and other areas.
Bhardwaj wondered that while there is a hue and cry in the farm community about the total loss of their crops, the administration is still to wake up to the serious problem heaped on the farmers due to vagaries of nature. It seems the priorities of the Lt Governor’s administration lie somewhere else as the officers are not serious about the problems being faced by the general public.
Bhardwaj who embarked on a whirlwind tour of the areas in Bishnah ,Arnia and R.S Pura region where standing paddy crops, vegetables and fruits have been totally destroyed by the incessant rains and hailstorm, demanded that the administration should wake up to the situation and immediately provide some ex-gratia amount as relief before total estimation of the losses suffered by the farmers is made. In many cases the poor farmers are finding it difficult to manage two square meals as in the sudden turn of events they have lost everything as they had high hopes on these crops in the matter of sustenance.
It is rather shocking that the UT administration has only been making false promises with the farmers and no compensation has been provided to them during the last four to five years whenever such calamity led to destruction of their crops. This is high time that all their past dues are cleared and new compensation should also be announced for which fact-finding teams of experts should be constituted immediately to assess losses and submit their report in a time-bound-manner.
The senior Congress leader further said that this tragedy of destruction of crops has befell on the farmers at a time when they were already reeling under serious crisis on account of very high prices of petrol, diesel, fertilizers, seeds and other implements needed for farming. ” The Centre and UT governments should take immediate steps to arrest the price rise and give relief to the farmers and other sections of the society by bringing down the prices of such commodities,” he said.
Among others who accompanied him on the tour were Ashok Dubey, Organising Secretary PCC, Kailash Saini Municipal Councilor, Dewanchand Khajuria,Rakesh Arora, Subash Chauhan, Krishan Saini Block President, Ex.Sub.Vijay Kumar Khajuria and Many Other farmers.