Don’t let AAP men enter villages till farmers get relief: Sukhbir Badal

Chandigarh, Aug 22 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Tuesday urged farmers and farm labourers not to let Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) functionaries in Punjab enter their villages till they do not get full and final compensation for the losses sustained during the devastating floods in the state.

The SAD chief, who was addressing a ‘dharna’ organised by former legislator Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra at Devigarh in Patiala district, said, “We all need to unite to force this callous government to do justice to our peasantry. Instead of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann releasing compensation by August 15, the AAP government is yet to complete the process of ‘girdwari’ to assess the damage to crops.”

“The process has been delayed purposely to deny full compensation to the farmers who have re-transplanted paddy,” he said.

Stating that the Chief Minister is not sincere towards the farmers and is deceiving them with photo ops, Badal alleged that a “few farmers were handed over cheques in envelopes with amounts ranging to up to Rs 40,000 written on them, but the cheques were for Rs 4,000 only”.

Similarly, a person was given a compensation of Rs 6,800 for damage to his house, whereas he must have incurred a loss amounting to a few lakh rupees, Badal said.

Badal, while paying tribute to farmer Pritam Singh, who was killed during a protest at Longowal in Sangrur district, said, “We support the farmers' organisations which are seeking a fair compensation for the farmers."

He also demanded that a murder case be registered against the Chief Minister as well as all police officers who are responsible for inflicting atrocities on the farmers in Sangrur.

The SAD chief also came down heavily on self-styled organisations that are spewing hatred among the ‘panth’ on a daily basis but do not utter a single word to highlight the atrocity inflicted on the farmers and the subsequent murder of a Sikh farmer.

“Where are Baljit Singh Daduwal and Dhian Singh Mand,” he asked.

Badal also talked about the "manifold increase" in drugs trafficking in the AAP regime, saying that synthetic drugs are resulting in widespread cases of overdose and deaths among the youth in the state.