Farmers in Ghaziabad fall short of crop damage scale, ineligible for aid

GHAZIABAD: Farmers are a distressed lot in Ghaziabad. Despite PM Narendra Modi this week announcing higher compensation for crop damage and easing criteria for them to claim government benefits, not a single farmer in the district is eligible for compensation.
There are 49,000 farmers in Ghaziabad, who have been affected by unseasonal rain and hailstorm.But, according to government estimates, the total crop damage in the district is between 22% and 30%, whereas farmers are eligible for compensation only if the loss is 33% or more of crop area. Earlier, the eligibility criteria for getting compensation for damaged crops was fixed at 50% of crop area.
“Out of 26506.04 hectares of wheat sown in the district, 6717.57 hectares have been destroyed, affecting about 8,000 farmers. This accounts for less than 33 per cent of damaged crop,” district agriculture officer MP Singh told TOI on Friday.
But, farmers claim the damage is much more. “If you ask me, I think about 70% of wheat crop has been damaged. I don’t know what method the government officials are employing to ascertain the crop damage,” Shivraj, a farmer from Bhadauli village, said.
According to government estimates, potato was grown in 215.42 hectares of land in the district and the crop has been damaged only in 50.12 hectares of land.
But, Daman Singh, a farmer in Loni, said, “Go and see it for yourself the extent of damage unseasonal rain have done to the potato crops. We have been ruined and instead of bailing us out of the crisis, officials are busy with numbers and underestimating the damage.”
Again, according to official figures, vegetables were grown in an area of 119.4 hectares and 35.83 hectares have been damaged, affecting 6,000 farmers.
To press for inclusion of farmers in the calamity-struck list, affected farmers under the banner of Bharat Kisan Union had staged a protest on Thursday in front of the office of the district magistrate. Ramveer Singh of the union said, “We demand officials re-assess the magnitude of the damage.”
Vimal Kumar Sharma, the district magistrate, said, “We have opened helplines in Loni, Razapur, Muradnagar and Bhojpur blocks to address to the grievances of farmers where farmers can call and place request if they feel that the damaged have not been assessed properly. Apart from these, three helplines have also been set up at tehsil level.”