Farmers' compensation:Haryana demands Rs 500 crore from Centre

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today demanded Rs 500 crore from the Centre as compensation for farmers whose crops were damaged due to recent unseasonal rains.
In a meeting held today with Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Balyan, Khattar also put forth a demand to increase the amount of compensation given to farmers for damaged crops, an official statement released here said.
Khattar also demanded bonus for the farmers at the meeting, which was also attended by Haryana Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar.
The Chief Minister said the recent hailstorm has damaged above 18 lakh hectares of wheat crops and 50 lakh hectares of mustard and recommended that the Centre give the compensation to the farmers whose 25 per cent of crops have been damaged.

He discussed various alternatives for providing crops insurance to the farmers in the meeting, the statement said.
Khattar said efforts would be made to measure the damaged land through scientific means so that the farmers would not have to face any difficulty in getting compensation.
In the meeting, Khattar also put forth the demand to provide loan at four per cent interest rate to farmers for horticulture products and claimed that nationalised banks are taking interest at the rate of 12 per cent on such loans.
Union Minister Balyan issued necessary instructions to officials in this regard, the statement added.