Hisar: Rs 195-cr relief for 2020 crop loss okayed, farmers to end stir after money in a/cs

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, June 20

The Hisar administration has reportedly approved Rs 195 crore as compensation to farmers in the district for damage to kharif crop during 2020. The farmers, however, continued with their dharna seeking compensation for kharif crop damage during 2020 and 2021. The protest has been going on at the Balsamand tehsil office for the past 40 days. District officials said they had submitted a revised estimate of Rs 195 crore to the government as compensation to farmers on the basis of a special girdawari for kharif crop damage in the district in 2020.

Sources claimed the government had accepted the estimate and the compensation was expected to be disbursed to the farmers very soon.

The farmers, who launched the stir under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (SKSS), however, refused to accept the administration’s verbal assurance saying they had been getting hollow assurances for the past six months. “We will end the dharna only after the compensation amount is credited into the account of the Hisar administration for further disbursal to farmers,” said farmer leader Surender Arya.

“The samiti will intensify the stir from June 23, if our demands are not heeded to by the government,” he said.

District Revenue Officer Virender Bhardwaj said, “The compensation got delayed due to data mismatch. This compensation is meant only for the uninsured crop. Earlier, the data also included crop insured under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) the relief for which has already been awarded by the insurance company. Thus, we culled out separate figures for insured and uninsured crops to avoid double compensation.”

Earlier, the government had sanctioned Rs 238-crore compensation. But after scrutiny, it was found that some farmers were included in both lists.