Bhopal:
Unseasonal rain and hailstorms in the last few days have damaged Rabi crop in almost 10,000 villages across Madhya Pradesh, leaving farmers heartbroken.
On the outskirts of Bhopal last week, 45-year-old farmer Kamal Singh allegedly committed suicide after seeing crops in his two acres of farm land damaged by rain and hailstorms. He was in debt of Rs 2 lakhs and was hoping for a good harvest to be able to repay the debts to money lenders and banks, says his family.
"My father did not get compensation for the damaged soya bean crop last year and now the rain damaged crops in the field. If my father would have got the compensation of last year's damaged crops he might have been alive today," said Kamal's son Hari Charan.
But Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan claims that compensation for damaged soya bean crop has reached most beneficiaries. The state government also says the suicide can't be blamed on debts. The government, through newspapers ads, has assured farmers and their families that it is with them in this difficult time.
Mr Chouhan also held an emergency meeting on Friday with collectors of 49 affected districts taking stock of the situation. "The state government thinks this crisis is no less than a national calamity. And we have come up with a Rs 2,000 crore relief package for farmers. We will give a compensation of Rs 15,000 per hectare of damaged crops. Central Government has no provision of compensation for crop damage between 25-50 percent but we will give compensation," he said.
Farmers on the ground are, however, far from reassured. "Last year after our soya bean crop was damaged, survey was done but till now we have not got any compensation. I have read about the Rs 2,000 crore relief package. But officials will delay the process and so we will have to suffer," said farmer Ramnath Singh Rathore.
The Chief Minister this time has decided that the survey will not be conducted solely by the Revenue department, but by a joint team from Revenue and Agriculture departments. For timely help to farmers, collectors have also been made responsible to ensure that a survey is conducted within time and fairly.