Sangrur: Farmers threaten stir over 'inadequate' aid

Parvesh Sharma

Sangrur, August 25

Flood-affected farmers who have already shelled out thousands of rupees to have their paddy crop resown in the aftermath of recent deluge have termed the compensation of Rs 6,800 per acre being provided to them inadequate.

A majority of farmers here have expressed dissatisfaction over the amount and have said that they would start an indefinite protest to demand more compensation.

Affected farmers told The Tribune that they had, on an average, spent around Rs 6,000 per acre for expenses like diesel, paddy nursery, urea, etc., while first sowing the crop.

When floods occurred for the first time in July, they had to purchase seedlings at a cost of Rs 3,000 per acre from Jind, Fatehabad and other districts of Punjab and Haryana.

To this, add the Rs 1,000 charged by labourers to pluck the seedlings and Rs 3,000 as transportation charges. Further, Rs 4,000 was again charged by labourers to transplant the crop and Rs 500 was the diesel expense to prepare the field for retransplantation using tractors.

A survey has revealed that paddy over 38,000 acres has been damaged in Sangrur district, causing massive losses to farmers. Moonak tehsildar Sarbjeet Singh said the Revenue Department has released a financial aid of Rs 6800 per acre and it was only following the directions of the government.