While official figures of the damage would be known after the patwaris and gram vikas samitis have completed the `kharaba girdawri' already under way under the direct supervision of the deputy commissioners and sub divisional magistrates, unofficial reports indicate that 25 per cent of wheat crop, 20 per cent of gram, 13 per cent of barley, 40 per cent of sarson and 50 per cent of sunflower have been completely damaged. Chief minister Om Prakash Chautala has already visited hail-hit villages of Sonepat district and plans to visit Jhajjar and Rohtak districts on April 8. These, according to preliminary reports, are the worst-hit.

Stong winds accompanied by rain and hail have resulted in water-logging of standing crops in several villages. These fields cannot be harvested. Besides, the nature of sarson crop being as it is, even a mild hail-storm can damage the seeds.

The compensation for crop damage has to come from the Centre, out of its National Natural Calamity Fund, on the basis of the officially submitted report from the state government. Mr Chautala has already apprised Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee about the damage. Mr Vajpayee has assured full help under rules.

Till all these formalities are completed, the chief minister has ordered suspension of recovery of all kinds of loans from hail-hit farmers and agricultural labour of affected areas. While the irrigation cess (abiana) has been waived, recovery of power bills from the affected farmers too has been suspended. Mr Chautala also said that "the compensation to the affected farmers would be given at the rate of current rabi's minimum support prices (MSP) of foodgrains."

The chief minister said he was fully aware that various early-sown summer vegetables and flowers too had been badly damaged by the hailstorm. As there is no MSP for fruits, flowers and vegetables, the compensation to the affected growers of these crops would be determined on the basis of the data-base of the National Horticulture Board and Haryana Horticulture Department.

The vegetable crops damaged in the hail-hit belts are: cauliflower, cabbage, bottle gourd, round gourd, bitter gourd, cucumber, bhindi (okra), pumpkin, early-sown onion, late-sown carrots, green chillies, capsicum, brinjal, spinach, coriander, tori, ghia, tinda and brinjal. Among the fruits, only ber, grown mostly in south Haryana is reported to have been damage and some flowers. The chief minister has further directed the sugarmills to crush the sugarcane of the hail-hit areas out-of-turn so that could find some money to mitigate the hardship caused by the calamity. Instead of paying the price of cane within a fortnight as per instructions, these cane growers must be paid on-the-spot.

Mr Chautala has also urged the Centre to pay MSP to the "discloured" rabi produce as it has not affected quality. All the deputy commissioners have been asked to start development works out of various funds immediately so that the agricultural workforce of the affected villages could get employment.