Congress legislative Party (ClP) leader Sunil Kumar Jakhar on Tuesday reiterated his stand that the SAD-BJP led Punjab Government has failed to give compensation to the affected farmers during previous year. Jakhar was reacting to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s allegations against him of “misleading the farmers and the people by sharing distorted facts”.
“I am strict to my statement over the denial of compensation to the affected farmers, who lost their crops in 2014 by the State Government and the ruling SAD-BJP did not provide any compensation to the farmers till date,” said Jakhar.
Jakhar reminded that Badal had announced the compensation to the affected farmers over the lapse of their crops during his visit on September 15, 2014, at Abohar. “Farmers could not get even a single rupee of compensation even after six months,” he claimed. The leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha also shared the fact that the compensation of Rs51 crore of Muktsar and Rs32 crore of Fazilka district was still pending since September last year.
He also slammed the State Government stating that the Centre had released Rs203 crore for the State Disaster Response Funds from the central pool and Rs67 from the State for the affected farmers “but the State Government, which is full of sin, have diverted these funds for some other purposes or distributed to their protégés”.
Jakhar also claimed that under this ruling Government, some officials were enjoying their foreign trip and there were gross irregularities in the utilisation of grants received under the relief funds since 2007. The State Government never provided compensation to the farmers timely, he alleged.
“Instead of blaming the opposition parties, SAD-BJP government must introspect about its announcements and working of the state government,” he said urging the Punjab Government to release the compensation for farmers immediately.
He said: “It is not the Congress party which is misleading the people of the state, actually this kind of tactics of day dreaming have been playing by the ministers of the state.”