Rohtak, April 3
Weather-hit farmers from different villages of Rohtak district staged a protest at the local mini-secretariat on Monday. Maintaining that the compensation of Rs 15,000 per acre announced by the Haryana Government was inadequate in view of their huge losses, the agitated farmers sought a relief of Rs 50,000 per acre for their damaged crops.
Adding a dash of politics to the protest demonstration spearheaded by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, All-India Kisan Sabha and the Bhartiya Kisan Union, sitting Independent MLA from Meham, Balraj Singh Kundu, and former Congress MLA Anand Singh Dangi also joined the agitating farmers.
“They (political leaders) want to take some credit for raising the concerns of the farmers as they have also been visiting villages and taking stock of the damage caused to the crops,” said Sumit Dalal, state secretary of the sabha, on being asked whether the agitation was hijacked.
Mahipal, sarpanch of Karor village, lamented that the farmers had suffered up to 100 per cent losses due to the recent hailstorm, but the government officials were pegging the crop damage at 70-75 per cent. Mahender Singh of Kharawar village stated that his wheat crop had been damaged due to being submerged in water following the torrential rain.
Farmers Rajbir and Jai Kanwar rued that they had taken land on lease contract for Rs 32,000 per acre, but the hailstorm had completely damaged their standing wheat and mustard crops.
“Our villages did not have hailstorm, but the untimely rain and strong winds caused extensive damage to our crops,” maintained Ram Kishan of Naunand and Jagbir of Farmana Badshahpur village.
The protesting farmers submitted a memorandum of their demands to Deputy Commissioner Yash Pal, who assured them that the special girdawari would be conducted in a transparent manner and completed by April 15.
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