SME Times News Bureau | 19 Apr, 2019
Following damage to crops
resulting from unseasonal rain and winds, Punjab Chief Minister
Amarinder Singh on Thursday called for an urgent meeting of the Disaster
Management Committee to assess the extent of the losses.
High-speed
winds and rainfall on April 16-17 caused damage to the Rabi crops in
the state and the Chief Minister had on Wednesday ordered a special
girdawari to ascertain the damage.
Harvesting of wheat had already started in most parts of the agrarian state when the inclement weather hit the state.
The
Chief Minister asked the state's Chief Secretary to issue detailed
guidelines to the deputy commissioner's (DCs) to enable completion of
the special girdawari on a priority basis.
Reviewing the
situation, Amarinder directed the Chief Secretary to monitor the
progress of the special girdawari and ensure it is completed on an
urgent basis, a spokesperson said.
Taking stock of the reports
submitted by the Agriculture Department regarding the damage caused to
the standing crops, the Chief Minister ordered all possible steps to
expedite the process in order to ensure timely disbursement of
compensation to the affected farmers as per government norms, the
spokesperson said.
Standing wheat crop in hundreds of acres of
agricultural fields in Punjab and Haryana has been damaged due to
untimely rainfall and storms over the last 72 hours, revenue and
agriculture officials from both agrarian states said on Thursday.
While
the exact damage would be known only after it is assessed by revenue
officials in various districts of both states, agriculture department
officials said that this could run into hundreds of crores.
