JD(U) claims government is proactive, BJP says farmers have been left to fend for themselves

PATNA: The scourge of flood is something which the people of Bihar, especially in the north, have learnt to live with. After all, it is almost a routine annual feature. But this year, the unseasonal rains caught the farmers by surprise. The rabi crop, especially of wheat, suffered excessive damage, leaving farmers across the state devastated.

This gave the opposition BJP a chance to lash out at the ruling JD (U) for not providing proper relief to the affected farmers. “The Nitish Kumar government has been an absolute failure. The storm and rains hit Bihar on March 30, destroying rabi crops in a big way. But till yesterday, the state government had not submitted its report to the Centre for seeking cash relief by way of agriculture input subsidy.

The government has not done anything, the farmers have been left to fend for themselves,” Nand Kishore Yadav, the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly told ET.

Bihar experienced unseasonal rains in February and March, accompanied by hailstorm at times. As a result, rabi crops over 14 lakh hectares were damaged, out of the crops grown over total 32 lakh hectares across the state. The wheat crop over 11 lakh hectares, amounting to 22 lakh tonnes, was damaged in 38 districts across the state.

The government decided to give compensation to the farmers at the rate of `13,500 per hectare. “The extent of damage to rabi crops was 30-35%. In some districts it was as high as 50-60%,” said agriculture minister Vijay Chaudhry.

The chief minister called a highlevel review meeting to assess the damage the very next day after the untimely rains lashed Bihar, he said, adding that the government procured the damage reports from all the 38 districts within three to four days. The agriculture minister said that the government was acting proactively so that the agriculture input subsidy was made available to the affected farmers.