While looking at his field, where he had sown wheat, a farmer of Mundi Shehrian, one of the worst-affected flood-hit villages in Lohian, said: “Problems don’t take long to come to a man, but their resolution takes a long time.”

He said they had a black Dasehra and Diwali, but he, along with many other farmers, had entered the New Year with a hope that the wheat crop they had sown would help them earn well this time.

The floods had hit the area five months ago and the affected farmers continue to wait for the compensation from the government.

The government is supposed to give Rs12,000 compensation per acre to the affected farmers.

The farmers, who lost their fully grown paddy fields to floods, have gathered themselves and sowed wheat, while a few have also planted vegetables. However, they are wary of extreme low temperature.

Mukhtiar Singh from Mundi Cholian while talking to The Tribune said looking at the growth of wheat until now, he was hopeful of a better produce too, stipulated the climatic conditions remained favourable. He has sown wheat on six acres, while earlier, he had sown paddy on 10 acres. “The remaining four acres of the land is not fit to grow wheat,” he said.

Another farmer Boodh Singh from Mundi Shehrian said he had lived his life in penury so far, adding that, “My father had taken loans which he could not repay. I was hopeful that I would get a good amount for my paddy crop, however, I lost my hope entirely after the floods. I don’t know whether I would ever be able to repay my loans and become debt-free, but I have sown wheat on one acre of land and I am just praying that the weather remains favourable,” he said.

Parkash Kaur, sarpanch of Mundi Shehrian village, said 60 per cent of the farmers had sown wheat in their fields, while 40 per cent were not fit to sow any crop because of the unfavourable climatic conditions.

Farmer Sukhjinder Singh of Sardarwala village said he had sown crop on eight acres of land. “I just want everything to go smoothly. I have great hopes that the New Year will augur well for us,” he said.

SDM Shahkot Sanjeev Sharma said 6,700 affected farmers were identified in Lohian tehsil and they would be given the compensation shortly.

This news has not been edited by Apni Kheti staff but has been published by various news feeds

Source: Tribune India