Whitefly attack: Pb govt ensures compensation to farmers

With cotton crop getting extensively damaged by whitefly attack, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said here today that he was personally monitoring the government's response to the menace on a daily basis to ensure that the affected farmers are compensated in most transparent and expeditious manner.
"I am feeling the anguish of my farmers at the deeply personal level and this remains the top priority of the state government. There would be a zero tolerance for any laxity or lapse found at any level in the government machinery. We are one with the already beleaguered peasantry in their hour of crisis," Badal said in a statement here.

He said that the government would fully stand by and compensate the hapless farmers of the state for the losses suffered by them to the cotton crop.
"I have personally put the entire operation on the most swift mode. A sum of Rs 10 crore has already been released for the farmers who had ploughed their crop back because of the total loss caused by the whitefly. The process of compensation to the other affected farmers is already on.
A special girdwari (revenue survey) has been ordered and it is being carried out most expeditiously with instructions for completing it by September 25, said the Chief Minister.

He presided over an emergency high-level meeting of the revenue department at his residence here this morning in view of the whitefly attack damaging the crop.

The meeting considered how the problem of 'whitefly' had been aggravated due to deficient rain during this season, an official spokesman said.
In previous years, the larva of 'whitefly' would be washed away with torrential rains.
"This unfortunately didn't happen this year, and that has led to substantial loss for the farming community," the spokesman said.
This has forced the farmers to plough back their cotton crop damaged due to whitefly attack in an area of 11,780 acres spreading over six districts of Malwa belt. Out of total 4.50 lakh hectares area under cotton cultivation, the crop over 4574 hectares has been 100 per cent damaged.

'Girdwari' had so far been conducted in nearly 1.36 lakh hectares of land.
The state government had directed the revenue department to cover other crops like guar and vegetables for compensation.