After reports of white fly pest attacking cotton crop in several villages of Haryana, Hisar, Jind, Fatehabad and Bhiwani districts, leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday demanded a compensation of at least ₹30,000 per acre to farmers affected by white fly and wilting of crop.
“Farmers spared no expense to get good cotton yield, but white fly has destroyed everything before the crop was ready. It is now the responsibility of the ruling BJP-JJP (Bharatiya Janata Party-Jannayak Janta Party) government to give proper compensation to the farmer,” he said.
The former Chief Minister had earlier said the rabi (winter) crop was hit in many districts of the State due to an untimely hailstorm but farmers had not even received this compensation, which he alleged was stuck for a long time due to the negligence of officials.
“The government should take stern action against the officials responsible and provide quick relief to farmers. Farmers have been hit by a series of setbacks ranging from crop diseases, locust swarms, unseasonal rains and hailstorms, which are continuously ruining the crops of farmers, but they continue to wait endlessly for compensation,” said Mr. Hooda.
Mr. Hooda said government policies and apathy are hitting the farmer the hardest as they have been left to fend for themselves. “The three agricultural Ordinances brought by the Central government have completed what the government was trying to do, destroying the farmer. If these ordinances are implemented without a MSP (Minimum Support Price, in a reference to the Swaminathan Report C2 formula), then the self-respecting farmer will become a servant on his own land, dependent on big companies for his survival. Let there be no doubt that the aim of these three Ordinances was to abolish the mandi system and the MSP,” said Mr. Hooda.
Mr. Hooda cautioned the government that if it does not wake up to the issues of farmers, then the Congress party would take to the streets and agitate. “We wanted to raise issues related to farmers, employees, youth, small shopkeepers and traders in the current Assembly session. But the government turned the monsoon session into mere formality. The Congress will fight for the rights of all classes, not only in the House (Assembly) but also on the streets, if needed,” he said.
Separately, Haryana Congress ptrsident Kumari Selja termed the decision of the State government to close shops two days a week as a “Tughlaqi decree”. She said that the “confused government” of Haryana, which has completely failed to curb the coronavirus pandemic, was constantly working to harass traders and businessmen by “issuing such illogical decisions during this crisis”.
“Earlier, the government stated that shops would be closed two days a week on Saturday and Sunday, but later, a new decision came that shops would be closed on Monday and Tuesday. This indicates that this government was a completely ‘confused government’,” she said.