Himachal farmers suffering due to unseasonal rain & snow: CPI(M)

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses serious concern about the unseasonal rains in the Himachal for the last few days, the drop in temperature, and the heavy damage caused to the crops due to continuous hailstorms, due to which the farmers and gardeners had to suffer heavy losses financially. Due to this, the farmers’ crisis has increased further and he is completely upset. Due to the natural calamity in the state, almost all the crops including apples, pears, mango, stone fruits, off-season vegetables, wheat, etc. have been damaged and farmers and gardeners have suffered a loss of crores of rupees. CPIM demands that government should immediately assess this loss and provide proper compensation to the farmers and gardeners and the farmers and gardeners who have got crop insurance under the crop insurance scheme should be compensated immediately. Along with this, the government should immediately stop the recovery of loans taken by the farmers and gardeners and provide relief to the farmers and gardeners by immediately paying the outstanding amount of about Rs 90 crore for the apples taken under the Mandi Mediation Scheme (MIS) be provided.

In almost all the districts of the state, due to this unseasonal rain, drop in temperature, and continuous heavy hailstorm, the crops have suffered huge damage. More than 60 percent of the apple crop alone has been destroyed, due to which the apple growers of the state have suffered losses in crores. 90 percent of the apple crop has been destroyed in many areas and the gardeners have also faced the problem of meeting their daily expenses. Farmers and gardeners have been demanding crop damage assessment but the government is not paying any attention to this and till now no one has been able to get a proper assessment done of this loss. The economy of Apple in the state is about 6000 crore rupees, it has an important contribution to the state’s economy.

Meanwhile, the government is ending the assistance it used to provide in the field of agriculture and horticulture, due to which the farmers and horticulturists are being forced to buy costly items from the open market and are economically suffering. Today it is absolutely not possible for the farmer to get out of this agrarian crisis without the help of the government. In view of the seriousness of the agricultural crisis, the government should immediately discharge its responsibility and “set up a disaster relief fund” for the agriculture and horticulture sector and appropriate compensation should be given to the farmers and horticulturists by immediately assessing the losses caused by natural calamities. Provide relief by making it available immediately from the fund.