'One can't be sympathiser of farmers by travelling in a train'

Taking a swipe at Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, Union Rural Development Minister Birender Singh today said one cannot become a sympathiser of farmers by travelling in a train.
"One cannot become a sympathiser of farmers by travelling in a train for two days. The value of their hard work cannot be measured," Birender said in Rohtak after disbursement of compensation amount to rain-hit farmers.
Rahul had on April 28 reached Ambala in Haryana bordering Punjab sitting in a general compartment of the Nanded-Amritsar Sachkhand express before he drove down to visit Sirhind grain market in Punjab Fategarh Sahib district to see farmers' condition "with my own eyes".

An official release quoting Birender said it was for the first time in the history of Haryana that more than Rs 1,100 crore would be disbursed on account of crop loss among the farmers. Earlier, no government had given such unprecedented amount of compensation to them.
The government has completely monitored Girdawari work as a result of which farmers will be getting full amount of compensation as per the actual loss to crops, he said.
The previous government had not monitored Girdawari which resulted in the distribution of compensation cheques for a measly amount of Rs 15, he added.
Singh said the Union Government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was quite aware of the problems faced by the farmers. Thus, the government had decided to reduce the limit for compensation of crop loss from 50 per cent to 33 per cent.

The Haryana government is working one step ahead in this direction as compensation is being given to those farmers whose damage was over 25 per cent, he added.