Bareilly district is one of the areas worst affected by the recent hailstorms in Uttar Pradesh. The district saw the worst rains in the State as well as the death of 25 farmers. Several crops have been destroyed. Even as the farmers are dying, the government is yet to undertake a serious survey to determine the extent of destruction to crops. A first token survey said that about 51,000 farmers had been affected. When increasing farmer deaths created an outcry, it was said that 150,000 farmers had been affected, out of which half have suffered more than 50% crop damage, while half have suffered 20% to 49% crop damage. Along with these false figures, complaints of lack of survey are also rampant. Now the government says that in Bareilly alone 3 lakh farmers have been affected. Though these are also not accurate figures, they give an indication of the devastation in Bareilly.
Raising this issue, the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Mahasabha held a 24 hour fast and protest at the Bahedi block headquarters on April 1. The farmers in Bahedi are struggling with crop loss one hand, and on the other hand, the Bahedi sugar mill has not paid the farmers Rs 150 crores due to them for their sugar cane. Kisan Mahasabha State Joint Secretary Afroz Alam, tehsil President Javed Mohd, and Pramod Maurya sat on the hunger strike. During the protest the farmers demanded immediate crop survey, compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre, and immediate payment of sugar cane arrears. After 24 hours the Deputy Collector assured them of speedy fulfillment of their demands. Memorandums of demand were also submitted to the ADM at tehsil Meerganj on 6 April. On 7 April a dharna and rally were held in Bareilly culminating in a meeting in front of the DM’s office after which a memorandum was submitted to the DM. The Kisan Mahasabha demanded that Bareilly district should be declared disaster-affected, agrarian loans up to 1 lakh should be waived, compensation of 25,000 per acre should be paid (the government has announced a mere pittance of 7,000 per acre), disbursement of compensation should start within one week, purchase of wheat at rates below MSP should be stopped immediately, and sugar cane payment arrears should be made immediately. The speakers at the meeting pointed out that farmers’ deaths on this large scale would have been avoided if the government had taken care, instead of which it is busy in pandering to the comfort of capitalists.
