SHIMLA: Communist Party of India (Marxist) has sought compensation to the farmers who have lost 60 per cent of crops including apple, pear, mango, stone fruits, off-season vegetables, wheat by the ongoing spells of hailstorms and rains in Himachal Pradesh.

More than 60 percent of the apple crop alone has been destroyed, due to which the apple growers of the state have suffered a loss of crores of rupees, CPM leader Sanjay  Chauhan said

The party has expressed serious concern over the unseasonal rains in the state for the last few days, the drop in temperature and the heavy damage caused to the crops due to continuous hailstorms, due to which the apple farmers have suffered heavy losses financially, CPM stated.

Due to this natural calamity in the state, almost all the crops including apple, pear, mango, stone fruits, off-season vegetables, wheat etc. have been damaged and farmers have suffered a loss of crores of rupees.

The party demands that * the government should immediately assess this loss and provide proper compensation to the farmers, who have got crop insurance under the crop insurance immediately, demanded Chauhan.

Along with this, the government should immediately stop the recovery of loans taken by the farmers to  provide relief to them.

The government should pay the outstanding amount of about Rs 90 crore for the apples taken under the Mandi Mediation Scheme (MIS), he said..

Due to ongoing spell of rains and hail storms,  90 percent of the apple crop has been destroyed in many areas and the bagwan  faced the problem of meeting their daily  needs. 

But the government is not paying any attention to this and till now no one has been able to get a proper assessment done of this loss.

The economy of apple in the state is about Rs 6000 crore. it has an important contribution in the economy of the state.

On the one hand, the government is ending the assistance it used to provide in the field of agriculture and horticulture.

Due to which the farmers and horticulturists are being forced to buy costly items from the open market.

While on the other hand, due to natural calamities  economic crisis  has broken their financial backbone.

Today it is absolutely not possible for the farmer to get out of this agrarian crisis without the help of the government.

In view of the seriousness of the agricultural crisis, the government should immediately discharge its responsibility,  *set up a disaster relief fund* for the agriculture and horticulture sector and for appropriate compensation.