The Shiromani Akali Dal on Wednesday decided to gherao the Punjab Vidhan Sabha premises on the first day of the forthcoming budget session, March 20, on the issue of farm debt waiver.
The decision was taken to “focus attention on the betrayal of the Punjab farmers by the Congress Government on the debt waiver issue, leading to the growing feeling of tragic frustration among the beleaguered peasantry of the state. We want to force the government to honour its commitments to the poor and innocent farmers” in the party’s Core Committee meeting.
The Core Committee was firmly of the view that the state government had treated the farmers of the state with criminal neglect and insensitivity, making wild excuses to go back on what they had declared as their “sacred promises to the peasantry”.
“First they said that they were not aware of the financial position of the state when they made the promises whereas they had been issuing ‘white papers’ on the fiscal situation before the elections. If they were unaware of the financial position, how could they make a provision for Rs 1,500 crore in the budget for the last yearIJ Now, they are claiming to distribute just Rs 370 crores, even which has run into problems because of their inefficiency. This is worse than shedding crocodile tears,” stated the resolution passed in the meeting.
SAD’s Core Committee also observed a two-minute silence to pay homage to former minister and sitting MlA Ajit Singh Kohar, who had passed away recently.
later, party spokesperson Harcharan Bains said that SAD has constituted a high-powered committee headed by party president Sukhbir Badal to go into the entire gamut of problems faced by the farmers.
Apart from Sukhbir, MP Ranjit Singh Brahampura, MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, senior leader Balwinder Singh Bhunder, former minister Tota Singh and MP Prem Singh Chandumajra are the members of the panel.
The panel will suggest ways to ameliorate the farmers’ lot and suggest ways to make farming a lucrative profession. At the moment, the farmers are not able to recover even the bare costs they incur on production, and as a result, they are being crushed under the burden of the ever mounting debt.