Patiala Farmers say tomato crop hit by bad weather, officials unaware

PATIALA: Several farmers in villages of Sanaur area in Patiala district on Monday claimed that their tomato crop had been damaged by the blight disease, triggered by bad weather and fog. However, horticulture department officials claimed that they were unaware of any such reports.
The farmers alleged that the bad weather led to crop damage in Asarpur, Jogipur, Kartarpur, Nurkhedi, Budhanpur Basar and a few other villages. They said horticulture officials should visit them and assess losses. They also demanded compensation from the state government. In Sanaur division, tomato is grown on around 500 acres. Gurvinder Singh, farmer in Asarpur village, around 10km away from Patiala, said, “In our village, the tomato crop has been sown in around 50 of the total 100 acres has been completely damaged. The crop takes four months to be harvested. We had sprayed chemicals on the crop to save it from the diseases, but bad weather ruined everything.”
Another farmer, Surinder Singh, said he had sown the crop on more than four acres, but it was damaged by the blight disease. Sanaur MLA Harinder Pal Singh Chandumajra of SAD visited some of the affected villages and demanded girdawari (revenue assessment) for crop losses.
Patiala deputy director of horticulture Swaran Singh Mann said no farmers had visited the department or informed it about the crop loss. “We are unaware about any damage to tomato crop. We will send the officials soon to look into the matter.”