Father-Son duo Hooda visits flood-hit villages in Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra; demands special package for Haryana

YAMUNANAGAR: Former Haryana chief minister and leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday toured flood-affected areas of Yamunanagar, reaching the villages of Bambholi, Bibipur, Odri, Lapra and Kamalpur by driving a tractor himself.

Interacting with local residents, he said the scale of devastation was unprecedented and demanded urgent relief measures from both the state and central governments.Hooda said nearly 17 lakh acres of standing crops have been destroyed, while about 5,000 villages, 11 cities, 72 towns and hundreds of wards remain badly affected. “The situation is worse than the disaster of 1995. The BJP government must declare Haryana as a flood-affected state, and the Centre should immediately announce a special relief package.

The Prime Minister and Union Agriculture Minister should visit Haryana, as they have done in Punjab.

Their absence reflects the state government’s failure,” Hooda remarked.Farmers narrated their plight, telling Hooda that sugarcane crops had been uprooted and paddy fields were completely waterlogged. Sand deposits have buried large tracts of farmland, making cultivation for the next season impossible. Locals blamed illegal mining under political protection for altering the course of the Yamuna, resulting in recurrent floods in the region.

At a press conference in Yamunanagar, Hooda criticized the government’s relief announcement, calling it “a drop in the ocean.” He demanded compensation of at least Rs 60,000–70,000 per acre for farmers, along with financial assistance for damaged houses, shops and establishments. He further urged the government to conduct a special Girdawari survey instead of relying on the online portal, which he said was being used to deny farmers rightful aid.

“When it comes to stubble burning, the government relies on satellite images. Can’t it see the flooded fields the same way?” he asked.Calling for additional support, Hooda pressed the government to raise the sugarcane price to Rs 500 per quintal to help farmers cope with inflation and mounting input costs. He also expressed concern over the exodus of small industries from Yamunanagar, appealing to entrepreneurs to remain in Haryana while assuring them he would fight for industry-friendly concessions and facilities.Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda also visited dozens of flood-affected villages in Shahabad, including Madanpur, Mohanpur, Malikpur, Gumti, Kalasana, Shantinagar, Gorakha, Nalvi, Basantpur, and several others. After offering prayers at the Markanda temple, Hooda met affected families and assured them that their demands would be strongly raised before the government.Junior Hooda called for a comprehensive survey of the flood-hit region and urged the government to undertake desilting and cleaning of the Baba Markanda river.

He demanded construction of a protective ring bund from Markanda temple to Gumti as per the long-pending demand of local residents, even if land acquisition was required with fair compensation to landowners. Farmers should also be given ownership rights over sand deposits in their fields, he added.Highlighting crop and infrastructure damage, Hooda demanded compensation of at least Rs 70,000 per acre for destroyed crops and financial relief for damaged tube wells.

He criticized the Haryana government’s announced relief amount as “a cruel joke with farmers” and demanded immediate repair of flood-damaged roads.Local villagers told Hooda that every year Markanda river flooding devastates crops, damages homes and destroys large numbers of tube wells. He suggested laying underground pipelines from Naugaja Peer Baba to nearby villages for flood management and strengthening the drainage system with pucca outlets into canals.Blaming the state government, Hooda said, “Haryana is facing not a natural disaster but an administrative disaster. For the first time, the Chief Minister did not even convene a flood control board meeting. No drains or embankments were strengthened, and no relief package has been announced.” He contrasted Haryana with Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Gujarat and Kashmir, where governments have already declared assistance packages.He demanded special girdawari (crop survey), compensation for damaged houses and shops, and an immediate functioning compensation portal.Hooda was accompanied by MLAs Ashok Arora, Ramkaran Kala, Mandeep Chatha, former MLAs Mewa Singh and Sultan Singh Jhadola, among others.