AAP govt sprinkling salt on wounds of farmers, says Sukhbir Badal

Chandigarh, Aug 24 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Thursday said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab was sprinkling salt on the wounds of farmers whose crops had been ravaged by floodwaters by releasing a puny compensation of Rs 186 crore.

He said SAD would continue its agitation against the government till farmers and farm labourers were not paid a fair compensation.

Addressing the party’s second ‘dharna’ in Sardulgarh, the SAD President said that the government released Rs 186 crore to beleaguered farmers on the same day on which the SAD held its first dharna at Devigarh. However this amount is too less and does not even partially cover the losses sustained by farmers of the state.

“It is shocking that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has only Rs 186 crore for farmers but is spending Rs 750 crore on self projection through advertisements. If this wasteful expenditure alone is stopped, farmer compensation can be increased by three times immediately.”

Asserting that SAD alone was the true representative of farmers, poor and traders, Badal said “many farmer organizations have been formed in the state. They are, however, unable to deliver while citing how the entire agitation of the farmer organizations against the government was suspended when the government released Rs 10 lakh to a farmer who was martyred on the orders of the Chief Minister.”

“Kisan organizations should deliver on their promises. Farmers should not be used for cannon fodder alone.”

Badal also highlighted how the AAP government first failed to undertake flood prevention works and then did not regulate the release of water from the Bhakra and Pong dams.

“After this when thousands of acres were inundated in the state, AAP ministers and legislators indulged in photo politics instead of providing any succour to the suffering people.”

He also condemned the Chief Minister for being absent from the field and choosing to ferry his boss Arvind Kejriwal to Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh when the farmers of the State needed him the most.