Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, The Punjab Congress today demanded compensation at the rate of Rs 20,000 per acre for the damage to the crops in the state due to inclement in addition to o Rs.4880 per acre compensation under state disaster relief fund.
The memorandum to this effect was submitted to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal by Congress Legislature Party chief Sunil Jakhar and state party chief Partap Singh Bajwa at the dharna staged by the party MLAs in from of chief minister’s residence in the morning.
The party also demanded exemption from the payment of electricity bills for domestic use for one year in case of farmers owning upto five acres of land and loan waiver for small and marginal farmers.
“Punjab farmers and its entire agrarian class has been pushed into an ignoble state under Akali BJP regime, wherein the food bowl of india which assures the food security to millions of Indians and thereby has elevated India’s prestige at global stage, is today scurrying for help. In this moment of farmer’s distress, Punjab government , instead of extending helping hand ,is pushing these hardworking farmers into deeper woes, proverbially speaking, rubbing salt on their wounds. The farmer today is languishing under inhospitable conditions of grain markets to take home his hard earned money for his family and for his upkeep, from the crop damaged by the vagaries of nature. Ironically neither you Mr. Chief Minister, nor the Dy. Chief Minister of Punjab, nor anyone from the retinue of cabinet ministers have sensitivity to reach out to hundred thousand farmers in their hour of distress and helplessness”, the memorandum stated.
It pointed out that despite procurement having started on April 10, the farmers were finding it difficult to sell their produce till now. They were being forced to go in for distress. They were still to be waiting for payment while the government was supposed to clear arrears within 24 hours.
The party also sought explanation as to why the wheat seed scam which surfaced in the year 2010-11, was yet to reach its logical conclusion. Now a BT seed scam had surfaced in which a Akali minister was named for skimming Rs.60 lacs as graft. The party demanded CBI probe in the latest scandal to expose such fraudulent companies which had the audacity to connive with unscrupulous politico-administrative system.
