The tomato farmers in the villages of Sanaur block of Patiala district are awaiting compensation for the damage to their crop due to blight disease even as the district administration officials claimed that assessment reports were compiled and being sent to the government.

"The farmers have completely lost their tomato crop due to blight disease and officials have visited the affected fields to assess the damage, but there has been no announcement of compensation," said Buta Singh Shadipur, president, BKU (Shadipur).

"The farmers spent Rs 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh on each acre on tomato crop, but just ahead of fruiting it faced the blight attack. Nearly a month has passed, but there has been no assurance from the government on providing appropriate compensation," he said.

"Besides damage to tomato crop, the farmers in 25 villages have also faced losses to other crops due to hailstorms, and before that they had faced floods.

But no compensation was given to the farmers. Two days ago, I had met Patiala deputy commissioner regarding compensation demand," But Singh added.

The officials from the Patiala horticulture department along with the revenue officials have conducted the survey of damages and submitted their report to the district administration. The assessment of crop loss has been done in 10 villages by the revenue department while the horticulture department has provided details of three more villages for assessment.

"Just yesterday, the SDM got reports from the horticulture department about three new villages that have been affected by the disease. They have already finished the assessment of 10 villages that had reported crop loss," said Sakshi Sawhney, deputy commissioner, Patiala.

"The SDM will send a report of a total of 13 villages to me after assessment of three more villages that have also witnessed the crop loss due to blight attack.

We will be sending a proper report to the government in the format they have asked us to submit it. If any incomplete report is filed, objections can be raised. The formalities are being completed and there is no delay from our side," said the DC.

The tomato crop is sown in nearly 1,200 acres in Patiala district, mostly in the Sanaur area. Officials from the horticulture department revealed that the crop in around 500 acres was severely damaged, whereas in the remaining area the damage varied under different categories. Many farmers have uprooted their damaged crops to prevent the spread of the disease to other crops.

Two weeks ago, officials from the horticulture department had in their report submitted that around 480 acres in Sanaur, 135 acres in Asarpur village, nearly 90 acres in Fatehpur Rajputan village, around 95 acres in Kartarpur village, 120 acres in Noor Khedian, over 20 acres in Bosar Khurd, nearly 60 acres in Jogipur, and around five acres in Khudda village were badly hit.

After the blight attack, teams from Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) and the Central Integrated Pest Management (CIPM) centre, Jalandhar, had visited the affected areas of Sanaur, Fatehpur and Asrarpur in December. They had assessed the cause of damage and issued an advisory to the farmers to take measures to control the further spread of the disease.

Source - https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com