A Central team of the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs on Sunday visited Bani village in Sirsa district to assess the extent of loss to wheat which was damaged in the State Warehouse during the recent floods.
The team comprised Jitender Narayan, Director, Food and Public Distribution Department; Ashok Kumar, Consultant, Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Bhupender Bhati (FCI).
Sirsa Deputy Commissioner C. G. Rajnikathan, District Food and Supplies Controller Sultan Singh, District Manager (State Warehouse) M.L.Verma, District Manager (Hafed) Gurjant Singh, General Manager (Confed) Maha Singh and other officers also accompanied the team.
They reached the warehouse in boats of the National Disaster Relief Force and took stock of the loss caused by the flood water to the wheat stored there.
Report soon
Mr. Narayan later told mediapersons that the team had assessed the loss and the report would be soon submitted to the Centre.
However, Mr. Ashok Kumar pointed out that the total extent of loss could be assessed only after the flood water recedes.
He further said that once the water receded, the wheat bags would be brought out from the godown and sorted out as per the FCI norms. The wheat stored in other godowns in the district had not suffered any damage, he added.
Meanwhile, Haryana Minister of State for Home Gopal Kanda directed the Sirsa district administration to make special arrangements for the drainage of storm water and cleanliness in the city.
He also directed the officers to get the drains alongside the roads in Dabwali cleaned immediately so that storm water could be drained out.
Interestingly, the Bhupinder Singh Hooda regime has asked the Centre to effect a five-fold increase in the age-old relief norms to compensate the farmers for the loss to their crops; sanction immediately a special grant of Rs. 1,370 crore to enable Haryana to extend relief to the flood-hit and restore infrastructure.
It may be recalled that Ambala, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Fatehabad,Karnal and Sirsa districts had suffered from extensive floods which led to the loss of 26 human lives.
Link canal imbroglio
The Haryana Government has also sought an early solution to the Satluj Yamuna Link Canal imbroglio with Punjab and urged the Centre to play a proactive role in ensuring that Haryana gets its due share of water.
It may be recalled that the Hooda regime has accused Punjab of using the defunct SYL Canal to “flush out flood waters which have caused havoc in Haryana.”