 Early Times Report
JAMMU, May 10: With their standing wheat crop on about 800 kanals of land in Changia village panchayat in Arnia Sector reducied to ashes in a sudden fire that broke out a few days ago, the dejection was writ large on the faces of unfortunate farmers of the area, who have no idea of how to overcome the losses they incurred. According to locals, the fire started from one of the wheat fields and suddenly spread to the nearby cultivated lands.
As soon as the villagers noticed the fire, they rushed to the fields and tried to douse the flames by various means but as the crops were fully ripe and ready to harvest, the fire spread thick and fast.
"It was around 12 noon on May 7 when someone working in the fields noticed the flame and immediately raised an alarm. Sooner than later everybody rushed to the fields to douse the fire but it was all in vain as the raging flames spread at a rapid pace and engulfed a huge portion of fields full with standing wheat crop," said a farmer, Bhagat Singh of panchayat Changia. "But for the combined efforts of the villagers it would have been worse. The hard work put in by the locals finally paid off as the fire was doused completely after about 3 hours of strenuous efforts. However, till the flames were doused, about 800 kanals of standing wheat crop had been reduced to ashes. Regrettably, the fire tenders from nearby fire station reached the spot after a lot of delay only to fulfill the cosmetic formalities," added Singh. Gurdev Singh and his three brothers, who own a major part of the wheat crop fields that got completely destroyed in the fire, minced no words in reprimanding indifferent attitude of political leadership towards the misery they are presently experiencing. "Politicians hardly take any pain to help mitigate our sufferings. The political class is only visible and vibrant when it needs our votes. Neither Member of Parliament nor former MLA bothered to visit the spot and offer some solace to the farming community whose golden harvest was reduced to ashes," said Dileep Singh, younger brother of Bhagat Singh. Local Sarpanch Raghubir Singh said that water pump sets also got burnt in the devastating fire which engulfed a large chunk of cultivated land thereby the farmers face another daunting task to resurrect their machinery as it is one of the necessities to irrigate their fields. |
