Chandigarh, Oct 28 (PTI) Opposition Congress and INLD on Tuesday alleged that farmers in Haryana are suffering due to a shortage of fertilisers and are being treated as "criminals" as officials are stamping
their hands when they come to collect fertilisers.
Attacking the BJP government, Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala and Indian National Lok Dal president Abhay Singh Chautala accused it of adding insult to injury with such treatment of farmers.
In a statement, Surjewala said, "Instead of helping farmers who are already struggling due to severe fertiliser shortages, the BJP government has now started a shameful practice -- stamping the hands of farmers as if they were criminals".
In a separate statement, INLD chief Chautala said only two bags of DAP fertiliser are being given for one Aadhaar card.
He said farmers' hands are being stamped, "making them feel like criminals".
Surjewala claimed there is a major fertiliser crisis across the state.
"Farmers have been standing in queues for days without food or water, yet the government remains indifferent. Now, to add insult to injury, officials are marking farmers' hands with stamps when they come to collect fertilisers as if they were convicts or prisoners being identified," the Congress leader said.
Calling it the "height of insensitivity", Surjewala said, "The stamp on farmers' hands is a living symbol of the BJP's anti-farmer mindset. The party finds comfort not in the hard work and sweat of farmers, but in their humiliation and suffering."
INLD leader Chautala said, "The extent of the disrespect being shown to the farmers can be gauged from the fact that not only young farmers but also the elderly and women in their families have to stand in queue since 4 AM to receive DAP. Even then, not everyone is receiving the required amount of DAP. Many farmers return home empty-handed, without DAP."
In many districts of the state, standing water in farmers' fields has not been drained, nor has compensation been provided for crops destroyed due to waterlogging, Chautala claimed.
Furthermore, due to the severe DAP shortage, farmers are unable to sow their next crop, he said. PTI SUN RT
RT
