Punjab : Hailstorm flattens wheat crops in Patiala’s Manjoli village, farmers seek compensation
A severe hailstorm in Manjoli village, Patiala, flattened wheat crops across 600-700 acres, with farmers reporting up to 90% losses. Officials confirmed 60%-70% damage, and assessments are ongoing. Farmers demand compensation, fearing debt due to lost yields. Authorities, including agriculture and revenue officials, are evaluating losses to determine relief measures for affected farmers.
Patiala: A recent hailstorm wreaked havoc in Manjoli village here, flattening wheat crops spread across 600-700 acres of land.Officials said 60%-70% of the crops were destroyed in the storm, but farmers claimed that the damage was almost 90%, and demanded adequate compensation from the govt. They said Ghanaur village, too, had been badly hit. Chief agriculture officer (Patiala) Jaswinder Singh said a report of the losses assessed so far in Manjoli village has already been sent to the director of agriculture. He, however, added that the assessment of losses faced by individual farmers was still on. The assessment of the damage by revenue officials will be done separately, he assured, adding that the district collector will take a decision on the compensation to be given to the affected farmers. Deputy director of horticulture (Patiala), Sandeep Singh Garewal, said the field staff are still ascertaining the losses to horticulture crops, including vegetables, and will submit the reports in a day or two.
A farmer from Manjoli, Surinder Singh, said, “We spent Rs 15,000 per acre on sowing and growing the wheat crop. We were expecting 20 quintals of wheat yield, on an average, from each acre of land. We would have earned Rs 40,000 per acre from the yield, but this loss will bring many of us under debt as we will not be able to repay the loans we had taken from commission agents before sowing the crops. Most farmers in Manjoli village suffered major losses, while some in nearby Malakpur village too bore the brunt of the hailstorm.”Singh had sown nine acres of his land with wheat, all of which he said was gone, besides one acre of mustard crop.
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Source : The Times Of India
