Farmers, backed by the HP Fruit Growers’ Association and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), today demanded immediate compensation to the loss suffered to apple, pea and other crops due to the hailstorm that lashed the remote Jabal and Duidi Tikha areas of the Chohara belt, where losses mounted to 70 to 90 per cent.

The 40-minute hailstorm also damaged apple crop in the Tikker-Shrautha belt in the Nawar valley Nankheri, Gohar block in Mandi, Jibi and Banjar in Kullu district.

“A hailstone weighed nearly 10 gm and the storm lasted for 40 minutes. Buds and tiny apple fruit and peas were razed to ground in a 2-inch thick layer of hailstones,” rued Bishember Singh, a farmer from Jabal in Chirgaon tehsil in Rohru.

“We spoke to the SDM, Rohru, but no one has come to assess the loss here so far,” he said.

“Hailstones lashed the Sungri area for two minutes yesterday and all flowers and buds fell on the ground,” said Sonu Machhan, a resident of Rohru, who was travelling through Sungri.

Meanwhile, the CPM came in support of farmers and sought immediate compensation for their extensive loss in Shimla, Mandi, Kullu, Chamba and Sirmaur districts.

A few areas suffered damage ranging from 70 to 90 per cent to apple, claimed Sanjay Chauhan, CPM leader, who is also a member of HP Apple farmers’ association.

Hailstones affected the fruit-set and bloom in Sungri, Sarahan, Nankhari, Rampur, Sharontha, Tikker, Chohara, Devdhar, Chirgaon, Pujarli No. 4, Deori and Khaneti in Shimla. Apple crops were damaged in Janjheli, Lambathach, Thunag in Mandi, Banjar, Jibi in Kullu and Haripurdhar in Sirmaur.

The loss to crops has dejected farmers, Chauhan said. Most of the farmers hit by hailstones were marginal and small farmers and had no other means of subsistence left. They need immediate government help, he said.

The CPM demanded immediate waiver on interest on crop loans, adding that the government should compensate the affected farmers immediately. If the government failed to do so, the party would launch an agitation involving farmers, they warned.

Source - http://www.tribuneindia.com/