Haryana: About 80 acres of standing wheat crop gutted in fire in Pehowa village

PEHOWA: Following the incident of fire in Dera Fateh Singh village in Pehowa sub-division of Kurukshetra district, dry wheat crop standing in hundreds of acres has been gutted.
After struggling for several hours, the farmers managed to control the fire with the help of tractors and fire tenders, and due to strong wind, it was getting tough for them to douse the flags.
The farmers told that they were working in the fields when they noticed flames of fire from the wheat fields which expanded in no time.
It is suspected that the fire was caused due to an electricity short circuit that took place in wires supplying 24 hours power to nearby industries.
On receiving the information, the fire tenders reached the spot along with police from Gumthala Garhu police post of Pehowa.
The affected farmers told that about 80 acres of standing wheat crop has been gutted in the fire in Dera Fateh Singh area, which also caused damage in Kheri Shishgara and Santpura village areas.
Among the farmers who lost the crop included Jabarjeet Singh about 14 acres, Bhupinder Singh Chattha five acres, Lakha Singh and Jodha Singh eight acres each, Janpal Singh four acres and some others.
As per the information, many of these farmers had taken the land on contract for wheat crop and the fire has gutted their efforts too.
A farmer said, “We had spent about Rs 55 to 60 thousand per year and took the land on contract for the purpose of agriculture. We have already paid the contract money to the land owners and now our crop has been damaged and we will have to struggle for survival this season. We demand from the government to provide us with financial compensation and we have pending expenses on our head including school fees of the children, bank installments, family functions, which we were expecting to pay after harvesting the wheat.”
About 10 acres of sugarcane gutted at Thana village
In another fire incident in Thana village, about 10 acres of ready sugarcane crop has been gutted.
A fire official Sandeep from Pehowa told, “The first fire incident took place at Thana, where we had deputed two fire tenders from Pehowa. In a short time, another call was received from Kheri Shishgara village and a third fire tender was sent there. Another call was received from Dera Fateh Singh and Gumthala Garhu area and we had to call fire tenders each from Kurukshetra and Kaithal. At the end of the day, we managed to control the fire.”
Pehowa sub-division magistrate (SDM) Sonu Kumar said, “There have been two-three fire incidents today in Pehowa and I had sent the concerned patwaris to ascertain the amount of damage suffered by the farmers. The patwaris are yet to submit their report and we expect the exact assessment by Tuesday.”
No claim of crop insurance due to fire incidents
It is notable that the insurance companies do not compensate the farmers of crop insurance in case of fire incidents and the private insurance companies have kept this nature of damage out of the claim categories, told the farmers. The insurance firms only compensate in case of hailstorm or damage due to rain and that too after a survey and thorough verification. Most of the farmers who have insured their crops pay the premiums from time to time but the claim conditions are so complex that the farmers hardly fulfill them. In any case, the insurance companies are in benefit and the farmers are at the receiving end.