Fire destroys wheat crop over 340 acres
Tribune News Service
Jhajjar/Yamunanagar, April 11
Standing wheat crop spread over 300 acres was destroyed in a fire in Chhara village of Jhajjar district yesterday.
The fire had damaged the entire wheat crop of nearly 60 farmers of the village.
“I had taken 9 acres on lease to make both ends meet, but the entire crop was destroyed in the fire. We are now worried about livelihood. This season, the crop was much better than previous ones hence we were hoping attractive return,” said Joginder, a resident of the village.
Other farmers, including Vinod, Rajesh, Sajjan and Kartar Singh, also lost their crops in the fire that started from adjacent fields of neighbouring Bahrana village and later engulfed 300 acres of Chhara village.
Agriculture Deputy Director Rohtash said crop loss due to fire was not covered under the Pradhanmantri Fasal Bima Yojana. “A team of agriculture officials has been sent to the village to take stock of the situation,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner RC Bidhan said Jhajjar SDM along with revenue officials visited the village today to assess the loss.
Meanwhile, activists of the All-India Krishak Khet Majdoor Sanghthan submitted a memorandum to the authorities seeking compensation of Rs 40,000 per acre for the loss.
In Yamunanagar, wheat crop spread over 40 acres was destroyed in a fire in Kalawar, Pinjori and Pinjora villages of the district today.
Villagers said the fire broke out in the fields of Naresh Kumar of Kalawar, Jagbir Singh and Prem Chand of Pinjora and Diljit Singh, Saroj Bala, Pritpal Singh, Shravan Kumar and Ujagar Singh of Pinjori around 2 pm.
They said that they tried to douse the flames, but failed due to high-velocity winds. Four fire engines took several hours to douse the fire, they said.
Jagadhri SDM Bharat Bhushan Kaushik visited the spot. He said the Naib Tehsildar of Saraswati Nagar had been asked to prepare a report of the crop loss.
