Rain increases farmers’ miseries in Rewari Haryana

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 3

Unscheduled rain has wreaked havoc on the rabi crop in the state, where thousands of acres have been inundated due to the heavy showers last night.

The government’s special girdawari to gauge the extent of damage after March 22 is now expected to get further delayed. Earlier, its deadline was April 7. Though, no official figures on the damage have been tabulated yet, a rough estimate suggests that the state would not be able to meet its procurement targets.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has asked the Centre for Rs 1,135.91 crore to compensate the losses.

Officials of the Agriculture Department said every time there was a fresh spell of rain, the task to calculate losses had to be started all over again.

The state has no clue as to the extent of damage after March 22, but for bits and pieces of information coming from different districts.

Till March 22, the state put the losses to agriculture at Rs 537.28 crore, horticulture Rs 21.16 crore, animal husbandry Rs 28 crore and civic infrastructure at Rs 45.15 crore. The known damage was about 18 lakh hectare wheat and 50 lakh hectare mustard crop.

Haryana has already announced rescheduling of crop loans, waiver of electricity bills and cash compensation.

A report from Bhiwani said the fresh spell of hailstorm and rain had affected over 23,000 acres of agriculture land at Tosham and Dadri blocks of the district. District Revenue Officer Mahinder Kumar said earlier the loss in 44 villages was estimated to be around 41,526 acres of agriculture land. Hence, the total loss had reached 63,000 acres.

In Karnal, last night’s rain has raised the number of villages suffering extensive damage to wheat crop to 55 across five Assembly segments.

The Agriculture Department, in its first report, had indicated around 15 per cent damage to wheat crop and 30 per cent loss to mustard crop. But the losses have risen sharply.

The assessment at Yamunanagar suggested damage to 18,336 hectares of wheat crop till yesterday. During this period, the damage to sugarcane has been reported in about 3,960 hectare, maize crop in 3,163 hectare, sunflower crop 1,723 hectare, pulses 1,978 hectare and mustard crop in 3,022 hectare.

In Mahendragarh, wheat was damaged in over 5,000 acres by rain and hailstorm last night. “Wheat crop spread over 4,750 acres has suffered more than 75 per cent loss while 51-75 per cent damage was calculated in 250 acres during the survey,” said Dr Harpal Singh, Assistant Plant Protection Officer (APPO) at Narnaul.

There are reports of 100 per cent loss to wheat crop spread over 4,000 acres in 40 villages of Rewari district. “Around 40 villages of Nahad, Jaatusana and Kosli blocks have suffered loss between 75 to 100 per cent in the latest spell of rain and hailstorm,” Rewari Deputy Commissioner Yash Garg said.

Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, has indicated that there may be further loss to crops if the prediction of inclement weather from April 4 to 8 came out to be true.

In Jind, wheat in over 36,500 hectare has been damaged. Out of this, 27,500 hectare have suffered losses of 0-25 per cent, 4,500 hectare of 26-50 per cent, 3,000 hectare 51-75 and 1,500 hectare have suffered 76-100 per cent losses.

In this district, wheat has suffered the maximum loss, said Ram Partap Sihag, Deputy Director, Agriculture.

Virender Arya, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Sonepat, said wheat crops in around 64,000 hectare out of total 1,42,000 hectare had been damaged to the extent of 10 to 20 per cent. Similarly, the same per cent damage had been caused to mustard crop in about 1,800 hectare out of 34,000 hectare of total cropped area.

In Gurgaon, the official survey of the administration has put the loss of crop at over 50 per cent. In Mewat, the losses at some places are up to 80 per cent. Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda visited the hail-hit villages today and demanded prompt survey to assess crop damage and adequate compensation to the affected farmers.

Surender Yadav, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Kurukshetra, said out of 1.15 lakh hectare wheat cultivation, initial assessment indicated loss to be around 15 to 20 per cent.

With inputs from The Tribune correspondents

In distress

Farmers seek waiver of interest on loans 

Jhajjar: Hit hard by Thursday's rain and hailstorm, farmers here on Friday sought compensation for the damaged crop. They also demanded waiver of interest on farming loans. "For the first time, I have seen such a massive devastation of wheat and mustard crops by hailstorm. This has made me to think about an alternate job to earn a livelihood," said Hawa Singh (45), a farmer who lost his crop spread over 5 acres. Like Hawa Singh, there are several other farmers in Goraiya village, about 45 km from here, who have suffered extensive losses. Devender Lamba, who had taken a loan of Rs 2 lakh, said it would be a relief to the affected farmers if the government waived off interest on loan, besides awarding ample compensation for the loss.  — TNS

Marginal loss to wheat in Kaithal  

Kaithal: Untimely rain and strong winds in early March have destroyed wheat crop in 9,000 acres in the district. Rohtash Singh, Deputy Director (Agriculture), said the crop was sown on 1.75 lakh hectares. Though there is no widespread loss, crop in a few pockets where rainwater had accumulated was adversely affected. A girdawri by the revenue department said the overall loss to crop is 2.12 per cent.  — TNS

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