Farmers of 17 villages in Kheri Chopta block relaunched their agitation, alleging the failure of the state government to provide compensation to them for losses to the cotton crop last kharif season.

The farmers alleged that they had called off their agitation in April last year following an assurance from Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala for assessing the crop losses and compensate to the farmers accordingly.

A leader of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, Suresh Koth, who is leading the agitation, said they had started a march from Kheri Copta to the district headquarters. “We demand that the government honour the agreement, which was reached between the state government and the farmers,” he said.

Last year, the farmers started the dharna at the Kheri Chopta Block Development and Panchayat office on March 16 when they came to know that the administration had denied compensation to farmers for the crop damage as per the special girdawari report, which stated that there was less than 25 per cent loss. It irked the farmers who said they had suffered significant crop failure and demanded fresh survey for the crop failure.

Later, following the assurance from the Deputy Chief Minister, a committee of the district administration re-assessed the issue of the crop loss of the farmers, which had also suggested that the cotton crop in the region suffered damage while moong and guar produce too was hit in terms of quality.

The committee comprising the SDMs of the Narnaund and Hisar blocks, besides the District Revenue Officer and the Deputy Director of the Agriculture Department had submitted a report which established the fact that the kharif crops-2021 had suffered damage because of waterlogging due to untimely rainand pink bollworm attack.

The report said, “The cotton crop has suffered damage of quality and quantity due to inundation and pink bollworm attack. Moong and guar have suffered qualitative loss due to the discolouring of the grain”.

The farmers alleged that they had been facing successive setbacks due to the repeated crop failures for the past couple of years.

“Even this year, a large number of farmers could not sow rabi crops due to the inundation of the fields following excessive rains in the last monsoon and post monsoon session,” Koth alleged that the government had been ignoring the farmers’ plight which had forced them to re-launch the agitation.

Source - https://www.tribuneindia.com