AITC Chief Whip in Rajya Sabha, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray raised the issue of plight of potato farmers of Bengal in the Parliament and urged the Central Government for some financial assistance to be given to the State so that some more steps can be taken for the rehabilitation of these farmers.
He said in the House that the Government of West Bengal has taken special measures to arrest the situation after the potato farmers were not getting remunerative prices of potato.
He also raised the issue of the irreparable losses of the farmers due to untimely incessant rain and hail storms in different part of the country, including the districts of South Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Purba Medinipur in West Bengal. This affected vast agricultural lands and huge quantity of crops like wheat, pulses, potato, paddy and fruits which were destroyed.
He urged the Government to announce a financial package towards relief and rehabilitation of the affected farmers without further loss of time.