Saturday, March 18 2006 13:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Cutting across party lines, several members in the Lok Sabha today(Mar 18,2006) urged the Centre to take immediate steps to help farmers in states hit by unseasonal rains and hailstorm, severely damaging the standing Rabi crop.

Raising the matter during Zero Hour, the members drew the attention of the Centre towards the severe damage to crops in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa due to the recent rains and hailstorm and demanded that Central teams be sent to the affected states to assess the damage and provide financial package.

Rassa Singh Rawat (BJP) said over 12 districts of Rajasthan had been affected and wanted the Centre to change the yardstick for disbursing relief to help the farmers whose crops, including cash crops, were destroyed.

Jyotiraditya Scindia (Congress) sought waiving off electricity bills and speedy disbursal of relief to farmers of Madhya Pradesh. He said 82 people had lost their lives and 4,500 villages affected and 1.5 lakh hectares of crop destroyed in his state.

B Mahtab and Prasanna Acharya (both BJD) raised the problem facing the farmers in Orissa, especially in the coastal regions, due to unprecedented rains and hailstorm.

Most members demanded that Central teams should be despatched to their states to make an assessment of the damage caused by the untimely rain and financial package be declared by the Centre.