New Delhi : Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will on Tuesday visit Agra to assess the crop damage suffered by farmers due to unseasonal rains. Gadkari would be accompanied by Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ram Kripal Yadav and state BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpai. The team is also likely to visit Aligarh and Meerut.
Farmers suffered huge losses this month when unseasonal rains and hailstorm damaged the standing rabi crops in several states. Over a dozen debt-laden farmers have committed suicide, and discontent in many rural areas against government policies is turning into anger against the government. Unseasonal storms have badly damaged the winter crop in large parts of the fertile northern plains, most likely contributing to the suicides, and villagers have blamed the government for not stepping in to help the distressed farmers or ensuring that crop prices remained stable.
