Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 25: Congress, National Conference, BJP, Panthers Party, J&K Apni Party, JCCI and various other organizations have demanded compensation in favour of farmers of Jammu region whose paddy and other crops have been badly damaged in recent rains and hailstorm.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee has expressed concern over the loss of lives and huge damage to crops due to unprecedented and unseasonal rains/hailstorm in Jammu and Kashmir and demanded adequate ex-gratia relief to the victims and farmers and orchardists.
Chief spokesperson JKPCC, Ravinder Sharma (Ex-MLC) on behalf of the party, expressed grave shock over the loss of precious lives and shared the grief of the victim families. He sought immediate ex-gratia relief to the families. He said that the farmers and orchardists have suffered immense loss to their crops and produce due to unprecedented and unseasonal rains/hail storm & snow that have lashed the region. He said that the standing paddy crops, vegetables and fruits have been totally destroyed by the incessant rains and hailstorm in several areas.
JKPCC demanded that the administration should wake up to the situation and immediately provide adequate ex-gratia relief before total estimation of the losses suffered by the farmers is made.
Former DyCM, Tara Chand visited various villages of Khour and Pargwal and took stock of the situation. He interacted with the farmers who suffered huge losses to their paddy crop due to rain and hailstorm and demanded adequate compensation for the affected farmers without any more delay.
Former minister and JKPCC vice president Raman Bhalla paid visit to the various affected villages including Mangu Chak, Barjalta, Hakla, Lalyal etc and took stock of damaged occurred to the paddy crop and vegetables of the farmers due to hailstorm and demanded compensation for the affected farmers. He said the farmers mainly depend on their crops and have suffered over 8-90 % loss. They must be compensated.
Senior JKPCC leader and former MLC Thakur Balbir Singh has also demanded compensation for the farmers bwho lost their standing paddy crops and fruits in the recent hailstorm. He said Administration should rush teams for the assessment of damages and expedite process of distribution of compensation.
Congress Kissan Cell vice president Vijay Kumar Shastri also demanded compensation for the farmers for damages caused to their crops due to recent hailstorm in Jammu, Samba, Udhampur, Reasi and Kathua area.
Senior National Conference leader and former minister Ajay Kumar Sadhotra said that farmers in Khour, Pallanwalla, Akhnoor, Pargwal, Kanhachak, Ganjansoo-Marh, Phallain Mandal, Kalyanpur, RS Pura, Suchetgarh, Bishnah, Arnia, Ramgarh etc have suffered 100 % damages to their crops due to recent hailstorm. The vegetable crops have also been extensively damaged. NC leader said that he paid personal visit to various areas and took stock of situation.
Sadhotra said that the LG’s Administration must send teams of Revenue and Agriculture departments for loss assessment and recommend adequate compensation in favour of affected farmers.
Seeking early announcement of compensation to the farmers of the Jammu region for massive losses caused to their standing crops due to heavy rain and hailstorm, many NPP activists led by party chairman Harshdev Singh and Yash Pal Kundal- general secretary took out a large rally at Ramgarh in Samba district. They were demanding compensation for the hailstorm victims. The rally culminated in front of the office of Tehsildar Ramgarh.
The leaders submitted a memorandum to the Tehsil Administration for the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha. Harsh Dev and Yash Pal Kundal also addressed the large gathering.
Apni Party Provincial president and former minister Manjit Singh today visited Rajpura block in Samba district and met the farmers whose paddy crops have been damaged due to heavy rains and hailstorm. During visit Manjit interacted with the farmers and listened to their grievances post devastation of paddy crops.
Singh said the Govt should declare compensation for the farmers immediately on the pattern of natural calamity. He also demanded that the KCC loans should be waived off as the farmers are not in condition to pay the installments of the loan. Manjit was accompanied by the District president, Samba, Raman Thappa and Ex-Sarpanch, Darshan Choudhary.
Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI), Jammu, expressed grave concern over the damages caused due to incessant rains and hailstorm in parts of the Jammu region, seeking immediate compensation to the farmers whose standing crops have been damaged.
JCCI president Arun Gupta during meeting with the office bearers threadbare discussed the losses suffered by farmers in Jammu region. He said hailstorm has hugely damaged the standing crops. He sought deputation of an empowered team of revenue and agriculture officers to carry out the survey at ground zero. He hoped the government will rise to the occasion and come to the rescue of the farming community and said such farmers, whose crops are not insured, need to be compensated fully.
BJP spokesperson and senior advocate Abhinav Sharma urged upon the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha to declare unprecedented incessant rains and hailstorm suffered by farmers of Jammu and Samba districts, as natural calamity and compensate the affected farmers, as most of them have suffered about 100 % losses. He also visited about a score of villages in Marh block and took stock of situation.
All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) has urged the Government for 100 percent compensation to Basmati growers of Jammu region who have suffered extensive damage to their crops due to recent heavy rains and hailstorm.
Senior leaders of AJKPC and representatives of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), led by UT president of AJKPC Anil Sharma, visited different parts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts to assess the damage suffered by Basmati growers. They demanded compensation for the damages caused to the crops of farmers.
DDC Member from Suchetgarh, TS Tony; KP Singh- Chairman DSS, Kissan Cell and JMC Councilor Dwaraka Choudhary (Cong) have also demanded compensation in favour of farmers whose crops have suffered huge damages due to recent rain and hailstorm in Jammu and Samba area. They demanded that process of assessment by the Govt teams be expedited.
Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement (JKPM) State Secretary Surinder Singh Jamwal has also expressed concern over the losses of crops of poor farmers and fruit growers due to heavy rainfall and snowfall.
“As the farmers have taken huge loans under the Kissan Credit Card scheme, the Government should immediately assess the losses of farmers and fruit growers and announce compensation package”, Jamwal said, adding “the Government should also waive off loans under KCC of the farmers and fruit growers”.
He also demanded ex-gratia relief for the families of those persons who lost their lives in landslides.
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