30 lakh acre farmland ruined in floods but BJP-led govt didn’t declare Haryana ‘flood-hit’: Hooda

Chandigarh, Sep 17 (PTI) Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday said recent floods have devastated nearly 30 lakh acres of farmland across Haryana, and around 5.1 lakh farmers are suffering losses, but the BJP-led state government has not declared the state as flood-affected.

Despite more than a month having passed, the state continues to grapple with the aftermath, yet the BJP government has failed to take concrete steps to provide relief, the former chief minister alleged.

Hooda, who recently visited flood-affected areas from Jind and Rohtak to Yamunanagar, claimed that everywhere people complained of a lack of assistance and inadequate relief measures.

Hooda expressed surprise that the Haryana government has neither declared the state flood-affected nor sought a relief package from the Centre.

He said that "this reveals the government's intention of keeping people trapped in prolonged processes of portals and land surveys, thereby withholding timely compensation".

He also demanded that the support price of sugarcane be fixed at a minimum of Rs 500 per quintal, an increase by nearly Rs 100 than current price and paddy procurement be started immediately.

The Congress leader announced that he would donate one month's salary to the flood relief fund and appealed to all MLAs, including Congress legislators, to also contribute one month's salary to provide meaningful assistance to the flood-affected.

According to Hooda, farmers have suffered losses of nearly Rs 1 lakh per acre, with standing crops completely destroyed and no prospects for the coming harvest.

This means farmers are facing losses for two consecutive seasons, he said.

Hooda added that farmers must receive compensation of at least Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 per acre, "while the government is offering a very lesser amount".

He pointed out that the floods have also hit the paddy crop hard.

"Whatever little farmers managed to save has begun reaching mandis, but procurement has not yet started," Hooda said and demanded that procurement begin on September 20 and that the entire crop be purchased at the MSP.

Hooda alleged that the floods have exposed poor arrangements of the BJP government.

Entire towns turned into ponds with the first rainfall. In villages and fields, canals and drains were neither cleaned nor embankments strengthened, he said.

He alleged that scams were committed in the name of laying pipelines in many villages, which proved useless as no water was drained when the floods came. PTI SUN NB NB