Chandigarh, September 17.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has demanded that the support price of sugarcane be fixed at a minimum of ₹500 per quintal, that paddy procurement be started immediately, and that the market fee be reduced by 1 percent. He announced that he would donate one month’s salary to the flood relief fund and appealed to all MLAs, including Congress legislators, to also contribute one month’s salary to provide meaningful assistance to the flood-affected. Hooda was addressing reporters at his residence.
He said that floods have devastated nearly 30 lakh acres of farmland across Haryana, and around 5.1 lakh farmers are suffering losses. Despite more than a month having passed, the state continues to grapple with the aftermath, yet the BJP government has failed to take concrete steps to provide relief. Hooda, who personally visited flood-affected areas from Jind and Rohtak to Yamunanagar, said that everywhere people complained of a lack of assistance and inadequate relief measures.
Hooda expressed surprise that the Haryana government has neither declared the state flood-affected nor sought a relief package from the Centre. He said this reveals the government’s intention of keeping people trapped in prolonged processes of portals and land surveys, thereby withholding timely compensation.
According to Hooda, farmers have suffered losses of nearly ₹1 lakh per acre, with standing crops completely destroyed and no prospects for the coming harvest. This means farmers are facing losses for two consecutive seasons. He said that farmers must receive compensation of at least ₹60,000 to ₹70,000 per acre, while the government is offering an amount that is even less than the cost of fertiliser.
He pointed out that the floods have also hit the paddy crop hard. Whatever little farmers managed to save has begun reaching mandis, but procurement has not yet started. Hooda demanded that procurement begin on September 20 and that the entire crop be purchased at the MSP. He further urged the government to reduce the market fee from 4 percent to 1 percent, noting that high fees are forcing mills to migrate from Haryana to other states. Many of these mills were established in Haryana during the Congress regime when fees were kept lower but are now shifting away due to the burden of higher charges.
Hooda said that the floods have exposed not only the poor arrangements of the BJP government but also its corruption. In cities, scams were carried out in the name of the Amrit scheme and sewerage cleaning, with the result that entire towns turned into ponds with the first rainfall. In villages and fields, canals and drains were neither cleaned nor embankments strengthened. He alleged that scams were also committed in the name of laying pipelines in many villages, which proved useless as no water was drained when the floods came.
He also raised questions about the conduct of the Election Commission, saying that it has not given any clear answers regarding the issue of fake votes. It has not explained how such a large number of bogus votes were created, who was responsible, and what action has been taken. Hooda said that fake votes are widespread in Haryana as well and that the BJP misused ration cards to manipulate elections. Just before polls, the number of BPL cards was inflated to 52 lakh, implying that nearly 80 percent of the state’s population was below the poverty line. Yet soon after elections, cancellations began, and 11 lakh ration cards have already been revoked. He asked whether such cards were issued to steal votes or to enable a ration scam and said that in either case this is a grave instance of corruption and theft of mandate that warrants strict action against the guilty.
On the state of higher education, Hooda said that not a single university in Haryana has figured in the top 100 institutions of the country. Since the BJP came to power, the quality of higher education in the state has steadily deteriorated. He pointed out that in the NIRF 2025 rankings released on September 4, no university from Haryana found a place among the top 100.
Commenting on the INLD, Hooda said that both the INLD and the JJP are merely proxies of the BJP. As the BJP cannot face the Congress directly in Haryana, it resorts to fighting through such alliances. He recalled that last time the BJP fought a proxy battle with the support of the JJP, while this time it has tied up with the INLD. In Sirsa, the BJP even withdrew its candidate to ensure the victory of INLD ally Gopal Kanda, whose statement itself brought the BJP-INLD alliance out in the open.
He added that in constituencies such as Rania, Narwana, Ellenabad, and Dabwali, the INLD extended support to the BJP while the BJP openly backed INLD candidates. Hooda said that the people of Haryana fully understand their true nature and that there is no need to waste time responding to their claims.
