Double whammy for Punjab’s paddy farmers

Chandigarh, Hundreds of farmers have lost the paddy crop that they had replanted in August. Their crop was first damaged during the floods in July.

“While farmers have not been informed about the compensation for the crop that they had lost in July, there is no action visible for assessing the crop loss second time now. The government needs to double the compensation for farmers in this category or make a suitable addition to the original amounts,” said state vice-president of the BKU Shingara Mann.

An Agriculture Department data from Ferozepur shows that 13,000 acres were flooded in July. During floods in August, 19,000 acres have been flooded which included the earlier crop area also. The official data shows that owners of at least 4,000 acres in Tarn Taran district lost the crop for the second time during the recent floods.

Similarly in Fazilka district, 2,500 acres of the re-sown paddy has again gone waste. Chief Agricultural Officer Gurmeet Singh Cheema said the crop on at least 15,000 acres in the district had been destroyed this year. Similarly, farmers from Jalandhar have lost all hopes for any crop this season.

Director, Agriculture, Dr Gurvinder Singh said, “Approximately 20,000 acres were affected by floodwaters in July and crop on same area has been flooded in August. The paddy sown recently will not survive in the standing waters. These farmers are left with limited options of planting ‘toris.’ .