Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday castigated the Congress Government for using the T Haque Committee, which was formed to recommend ways and means to waive off farmer loans, to impose power bills on Punjab farmers.
“It is astonishing that a Committee, which was formed to suggest ways and means to ameliorate the lot of Punjab farmers who are in deep economic stress, is recommending doing away with farm subsidy,” said the former minister and SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema.
He said: “This shocking development could have only occurred at the behest of the government which is desperate to do away with free power facility on one pretext or another. It is unfortunate that the Haq Committee has been used as a tool to implement this conspiracy.”
Making it clear that the SAD would not let this conspiracy to introduce power bills for farm connections in the name of Haq panel’s recommendations succeed, he said, “We will launch a mass movement to stop the government from going ahead with its nefarious designs.”
“The government must also immediately announce that it will not implement the Haq Committee recommendations on free power and reject the report forthwith for going beyond its mandate,” he added.
Cheema said that recent actions of the Congress government and its functionaries could also be evaluated in this light since the Haq Committee submitted its report to the government one month back but its contents had become public only now.
“Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh has given a public statement that power bills should be imposed on various farmer categories. Government has refused to give power subsidy for new tube-well connections and now, power bill will be imposed on them,” he pointed.
He added that the stand of Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, on the issue of farm subsidy, is very clear who has consistently opposed free power facility to farmers.
Condemning the government of doing one thing and professing another, Cheema said that the ground was being laid to impose power bills on state farmers by implementing the recommendations of the Haq Committee even as the government routinely claimed that the free power facility would stay.
Asking the government not to play with fire, Cheema said that free power facility extended to farmers by Parkash Singh Badal played a major role in keeping farm inputs down. “Also, this is the only measure open to the State government to give relief to farmers. Withdrawing this facility at this moment when more than 250 farmers have committed suicide after the government reneged on its complete loan waiver promise will be catastrophic,” he said.