Rajesh Tandon
Early Times Report
Mendhar, June 3: Although shelling is being carried out from Pakistan to the Line of Control (LoC) in the Mendhar region of Poonch district for the last few days, problems have increased for farmers living along the LoC. Farmers living near the border believed it was time to plant maize, but on one side the corona virus epidemic is on the other side and continuous fire is causing trouble for us, which has to be twice daily.
“Poonch district is known for maize crop. Most villages in the Mendhar, Mankot and Balakot regions have a monopoly and only maize is grown by farmers. This year, farmers are not able to grow maize crop due to shelling by Pakistani army,”said Riyasat Khan, a local of Mendhar Area. He said that earlier, we could not dig the fields due to the rain, but due to the firing by the Pakistani soldiers in the settled areas, we could not grow crops in the fields, fearing that the fire should not start from Pakistan, which would cause heavy losses. Fall, which has become a concern for us.
Another locals said that we grow the crop and this is where our house runs and eat it, but this time the trouble has increased, all the time the fear of death has started persecuting the way 24 hours ago Pakistan fired mortar, did not expect to be alive but God saved.
Although the fields are deserted, life has been affected due to the opening of fire in the border villages. People have lost a part of their crops, their cattle are dying, agricultural activities have stopped and schools are closed. All our agricultural work has come to a halt, “said Mohd Zubair, a Balakot resident, pointing to a crop damaged by a Pakistani shell.
Farmers of Border areas have demanded the Government of India and LG Jammu Kahmir UT that we fight with life and death every day, not knowing which day is the last. They said that we want one to stop shelling and we should be given some amount of package for the poor people of border area. We are fighting two battles at the moment, one corona virus and Pakistan shelling. |
