Hailstorm hits crops in 70 Bathinda villages

Bathinda, March 4

The hailstorm and rain that occurred on Saturday afternoon in the region severely damaged crops of wheat, mustard, chickpeas and vegetables in 70 villages in the district.

According to the report of the Agriculture Department, 32 villages of Bathinda block, eight of Nathana, 16 of Phool block and 14 of Sangat have been affected by nature’s fury.

State secretary and district president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) Shingara Singh Mann and state president of Kul Hind Kisan Balkaran Singh Brar said that hailstorm and rain have caused heavy damage to wheat, gram and vegetables. They demanded that the state government should give Rs 50,000 per acre compensation to farmers.

District Chief Officer of Agriculture Department Dr Kiranjit Singh said that 70 villages of Bathinda block have been affected by hailstorm.

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal today visited a number of villages in this district. He said villagers had told him that neither any AAP legislator nor the Agriculture Minister, who is from the area, had met them till now.