Budhlada, Apr 7 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday said his party would chart out a programme to help distressed farmers whose standing wheat crop was destroyed across 1.25 lakh acres of land due to inclement weather.
Addressing a rally here as part of the ‘Punjab Bachao’ campaign, the SAD president said, “We are making a programme to provide wheat as well as green and dry fodder to affected farmers.” He said the modalities of the entire exercise would be finalised at a meeting of the party’s district presidents at Chandigarh on April 8.
Asserting that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had “forsaken” the farmers, he claimed that they were yet to get compensation for destruction of their paddy crop in floods last year.
“Now even after unseasonal rain and hailstorms have flattened the wheat crop across 1.25 lakh acres, they have not been given any immediate compensation even though they were promised the same by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),” said Badal.
He said, “The chief minister today claimed that I am responsible for committing sacrileges. If this is so, then why does he not register a case against me?” The SAD president also announced that a hospital of the stature of AIIMS would be opened in Mansa, beside a veterinary college if his party comes to power in 2027.
The SAD president also announced that a Rs 10 lakh interest-free loan would be offered to youth, besides restarting an expanded ‘Atta Dal’ scheme and raising old age pension to Rs 3,100 per month and ‘Shagun’ allowance to Rs 1 lakh.
“Government jobs will be given to Punjabis and 75 per cent subsidy will be given to establish livestock farms,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal spoke on how the erstwhile SAD government had spent Rs 800 crore for irrigation projects in Budhlada alone.
She also accused the AAP government of failing to give compensation to farmers, be it for floods, bollworm attacks or hailstorms. PTI CHS KSS KSS
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