Compensation issue: Farmers counter claims of Haryana government

CHANDIGARH: Contradicting the claims of the state government about compensation amount, rain-ravaged farmers of Haryana, who got cheques of Rs 2 and Rs 3, have stated that they have not been compensated as per their land holdings.
Haryana chief minister's political advisor Prof Virender had claimed on Friday that it had given 33 paisa extra to a farmer, Tekchand, who got a cheque of Rs 3 as compensation for not being able to cultivate his land after waterlogging in the fields."Tekchand has a share of 1/1260 in (in one acre). His compensation works out to be Rs 2.77, but he has been given a cheque for Rs 3," Virender had claimed.
Tekchand could not explain the technicalities. But his brother, Mahesh, 33, who also got a cheque of Rs 3 for the same piece of land, alleged that the government did not compensate them adequately. "Twelve share-holders of around one acre land (six kanals) got around Rs 60 as compensation, in the range of cheques of Rs 3 to 4," he explained. "I will meet the revenue official tomorrow to ask on what basis they had calculated such a less amount as compensation for our land," the farmer added.
Tekchand's cousin, Sheel Kumar said due to waterlogging, following heavy rains, his wheat crop in two acres got damaged in 2011. "Now the government has given a cheque of just Rs 250 to me as compensation," he said. Explaining the logic behind giving a cheque of Rs 2 to a farmer Satnarayan, CM's political adviser had stated, "The share of Satnarayan, a resident of village Godhri (Jhajjar), is 1 out of 1,680 shares in an acre of land and the compensation at the rate of Rs 3,500 per acre was worked out to be Rs 2.08 for him."
However, speaking on behalf of family, Satnarayan's brother Dharmender told the Times of India that the wheat crop could not be sown in their 4.5 acres of land due to waterlogging in 2011. "Now, 17 shareholders of the land got cheques ranging Rs 2 to 4," he claimed.
Sources said many more farmers including Venod, Menpal, Kamla and Sunita, all residents of village Godhri (Jhajjar), got cheques in the range of Rs 2 to Rs 3 as compensation. A section of the affected farmers of village Paharipur had recently claimed that they were given cheques of Rs 6, Rs 12 and Rs 30 as compensation for not being able to cultivate crops due to waterlogging in their fields following heavy rains in 2011.
The government claims that the amount of compensation has been worked out on the basis of their share in the land, but INLD state president Ashok Arora said, "After insulting farmers by giving them a compensation of Rs 2 and 3, now the government is shamelessly defending the amount instead of being ashamed of it. The Hooda government is spending crores of rupees on the so called advertisement of its good work but it doesn't have money to compensate the needy and affected farmers."