Lucknow, Feb 9 (IANS): The Congress in Uttar Pradesh has asked the Yogi Adityanath government to set up a 'Kisan Aayog' for the welfare of farmers whose crops are destroyed by stray cattle.

UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu said that majority of the 'gaushalas' (cow shelters) existed only on paper and the Yogi government was doing nothing for the betterment of farmers.

He said, "There is large scale destruction of crops by stray animals and nearly a dozen farmers have committed suicide in the last one-and-a-half months in the state. However, the state government has been unable to provide any help to the farmers."

"The government should pay compensation to the farmers for the damage to their crops caused by stray animals in the last three years," he demanded.

Lallu said that this was the 'biggest problem' that the state was facing at the moment.

"A Farmers' Commission should be set up to provide relief to farmers who have been suffering due to loss of crops," he added.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesman Harish Chandra Srivastava, said, "The National Commission on Farmers (NCF) was constituted on November 18, 2004 under the chairmanship of Professor M.S. Swaminathan, but the Congress never bothered to make it functional. The BJP, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has implemented the recommendations and raised the minimum support price of certain crops to 1.5 times. The Congress must introspect before levelling allegations against the BJP."