Rs 47 paid as compensation to Jammu farmers for crop damage due to devastating floods in 2014

Mangalore Today News Network

Sarora, June 03, 2015: The grief-stricken farmers who lost nearly everything in the devastating floods in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014 are facing yet another disappointment. In what could be seen as rubbing salt on their wounds, the farmers in Jammu’s Sarora village have received compensation cheques of merely Rs 47 to a maximum Rs 378.

The agriculture inspector in the area handed out 25 cheques to farmers ranging from a minimum of Rs 47 to a maximum of Rs 378.

Agitated farmers are planning to protest against the Bharatiya Janata Party-Peoples Democratic Party government in the state over the compensation. Farmers said there has been extensive damage to their crops and the compensation is an insult to them.

"We were waiting for the cheques. But we saw they were of amounts like Rs 47, Rs 50, Rs 94, Rs 92," a farmer said. Other farmers too echoed the same emotions. "This is like a joke. We lost Rs 30,000 and the cheque was of Rs 100," the said.

Former chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah hit out at the government by tweeting, "The Modi-Mufti accord continues to prove that power was the only objective."

The state witnessed worst-ever floods in a decade in September 2014 in which nearly 300 lost their lives and thousands were rendered homeless with a huge loss of property.

On Tuesday, the Centre approved over Rs 400 crores worth project for urgent flood management works in Kashmir which was hit by floods, a visiting Parliamentary Panel said. The 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources was told that the government is working on both short and long term strategies to avert future floods in the Valley.

 

Courtesy: IBN