Field fire: Farmers suffer losses, seek relief

Deepepnder Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, April 23

Farmers have incurred heavy losses in several parts of the state after their wheat crop was destroyed in accidental fire. Nearly four incidents of fire have been reported from Hisar, Bhiwani, Jind and Rohtak districts recently. The fire was either caused by sparking in overhead power lines or due to smoking in the fields.

Fire officials said that four complaints were received from Hisar on Thursday in which wheat on several acres was reduced to ashes. A person also suffered burn injuries in an attempt to douse the flames in Niyana village of the district.

In Rohtak district, Saroj, a widow, lost wheat over two and a half acres due to fire on Wednesday night. The woman was handed over a bill of Rs 600 by the Fire Department which helped douse the flames. Sandeep, sarpanch of the village, rued, “She is a poor woman with no other source of income. How will she feed her two daughters after losing the crop?”

Farmers of Bhiwani district have demanded compensation for wheat crop destroyed in fire over 30 acres. Wheat crop was destroyed in Ishwarwal, Rohnat, Hasaan and Devrala villages in the last fortnight due to accidental fire.

The data collected by Haryana Space Application Centre revealed 200 incidents of fire across the state in the month of April.

“It is not clear whether these incidents occur due to accidental fire or due to stubble burning by farmers”, Dr RS Hooda, chief scientist, HARSAC, said.