Terming Centre’s criteria for fixing amount of flood relief to the flood-affected areas as a complete ‘sham’, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday demanded its review.
“The need of the hour is to revise these norms in the larger interest of the people especially those living in flood prone areas,” said Badal while addressing the gathering during his whirlwind tour of the flood affected areas in Ferozepur district.
Chief Minister said that the Centre had fixed the norms “irrationally” which were “too inadequate to compensate anyone affected by floods or any other natural calamity”.
“On the one hand, the cost of farming inputs is on all-time high and on the other, the Centre has quantified rate of this compensation merely at Rs3,400 per acre. In view of substantial loss suffered by farmers due to recent floods, we are ready to help our brethren in this hour of crisis, but our hands are tied due to stringent norms stipulated by the Centre, not allowing us to do so,” added Badal.
Advocating the need to re-fix these norms, Badal said that the Centre must keep in mind all factors including ever-escalating cost of farm operations before fixing the amount of compensation.
He blamed the Congress-led UPA leadership and bureaucracy at the Centre for their blatant insensitivity towards the farming community who were in no mood to bail out the hapless people even at the time of natural disaster.
Badal maintained that he had already ordered to defer recovery of crop loans of co-operative societies thereby converting the short-term crop loans of farmers into medium term crop loans in order to ease out pressure of repayment on them.
Officers concerned are even asked to recover loans in easy installments to relieve the farmers of enormous financial burden on account of repayment. Peeved over the extensive damage caused due to floods in 22 villages along with Dhusi bundh, Badal said that he had already ordered to immediately conduct special girdawri for assessing the loss caused to the standing crops besides survey to ascertain the damage caused to house property in these flood ravaged areas.
UPA Govt has failed to guard nation’s borders: CM
Ferozepur: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday expressed concern over the intrusion of Chinese forces in Arunachal Pradesh.
“The UPA Government has failed in safeguarding the borders of the country due to which China and Pakistan are regularly violating the border treaties,” said Badal.
Badal added that the Centre was duty bound to take immediate steps for checking the intrusion by these countries but the UPA had miserably failed in fulfilling it.