Miffed farmers express displeasure with delay in relief

Bhim (Rajsamand): Anger, depression, tears, disappointment were all evident on the faces of the farmers from across the state, who were upset with the Raje government for not taking any concrete step and 'timely' providing them with compensation on account of crop damage after a month of the hailstorm. These farmers gathered here to attend the 25th anniversary of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan in Bhim of Rajsamand district on Friday.
Resident of Lalpur village in Ajitgarh Panchayat of Bhim, Mohan Singh was never contacted by any government official till date about the relief for his 60% crop damage (his own assessment) in 15 bighas of land. He has not cleared his plot of land for officials to tape the damaged wheat crop. "Nowadays, I am busy protecting my damaged crop from cows and buffaloes so that I can show it to the officials who are yet to come. I moved from pillar to post for help but was neglected by the sarpanch and patwari," said angry Singh.
Laxmi Devi, mother of six girls, is a resident of Begu tehsil in Pratapgarh and is planning to migrate to Udaipur or Ajmer to work as domestic help in order to traverse the crop damage losses. "The crop on my six bighas of land leased out to agricultural labourers is 70% destroyed and the rest is partially eatable. The government is yet to send someone to assess the damage and Gajendra Bana's suicide in Delhi has made us jittery. Are they waiting for all of us to commit suicide?" asked Daevi with tears in her eyes.
For many, the step taken by the farmer of Dausa, Gajendra Singh is seen as the only option to save the family from debt. They thought that compensation given to Singh's family is enough for his generations to lead a luxurious life. Laxman Singh of Peesagan tehsil of Ajmer that saw one farmer commit suicide allegedly due to delay in compensation, said, "Government should tell us clearly if they are helping us or not. If they are not helping us than allow us to kill ourselves."
The crop damage has not only hit the small farmers and landless farmers but also impacted the big farmers with landholdings in hundreds of bighas. Badami Devi, 50, an influential lady of Ganga-Ki-Kheda village in Bhim came with her three sons to object to the situation. She misread the MKSS anniversary program as government program for crop damage. Dressed-up in traditional, Badami is the possessor of 50 bighas of land and has suffered 80% damage of wheat, gram and mustard crops.
Again mistaking mediapersons, who were talking to farmers, to be government officials, Badami's sons pressed them (mediapersons) to write their crop assessment. Their family came all prepared to indicate all the cards--diesel bill dated from December 2014 till March 2015 from Rs 50,000 used in pump set for irrigation and tractors, Rs 2 lakh electricity bill, seeds, pesticides etc. However, they returned angry and let down.