Lok Sabha Speaker and Kota–Bundi MP Om Birla on Sunday visited agricultural fields in Rajasthan's Bundi district and took stock of damage to crops caused due to rain and hailstorm lashing the region intermittently for the last couple of days.
Birla reached Barundhan and Alkodiya villages in the afternoon and was appraised of the crop damage. He interacted with the affected farmers and comforted them.
Gopal, a farmer in Alkodiya village, told Birla that the crop in his 10 bigas of land lay flattened by rain and hailstorm and his "future now rested on God's mercy". The MP comforted Gopal and assured that he will stand by him.
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Birla assured the farmers that he stood by them in this hour and directed the officials to carry out girdawari (assessment) of crops damaged by the recent rain and hailstorm to submit the report to compensate the affected farmers.
He also directed the officials to facilitate the insured farmers with insurance amount of damaged crop and compensation from the disaster relief fund to those not covered under the scheme.
A waste plan of action needed to be chalked out to protect the farmers from crop damage and natural calamity in future, Birla told the media after the visit and added that he discussed the amendments required in disaster and crop insurance policy with officials of agriculture department and banks in New Delhi.
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The farmers should be given sufficient insurance cover to make up the investment and cost of seeds and manure as calamity could not be averted, however losses and damages by calamity could be made up (compensated) so that farmers, after the calamity, could be saved from sinking into debt, he said.
The recent rain and hailstorm caused 100 per cent damage to the crops, he said, adding the government should take note of it sensitively while making girdawari report so that affected farmers could be compensated fully.
Later, Birla directed Bundi Collector Ravinder Goswami to compensate the non-insured farmers, who suffered crop damage, from the disaster relief fund within seven days.
-With PTI Input
