lambasting the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa on Friday said that Rs80 crore announced as compensation to the farmers whose cotton crop had been destroyed was not only a “cruel joke” and but also exposed his camouflaged anti-farmers’ face.
“Nothing can be more shocking that Rs 80, Rs 120 or Rs 200 cheques delivered by the state government to the beleaguered farmers as compensation to the crop damage and this amounted to sprinkling salt on their wounds,” he said.
Bajwa said that nothing can be bigger indictment of the Badal Government than the suicide committed by a farmer blaming the state government while sitting in dharna in Bathinda. “This is the situation under the rule of the leader who has been posing himself all these years as the champion of the farmers but in effect has been exploiting them as vote bank,” he asserted.
At the same time, Bajwa fully supported the farmers’ demand for compensation at the rate of Rs 40,000 per quintal as the “crime has been committed by the government by supplying sub-standard seeds and spurious fertilizers”.
He demanded the dismissal of the state Agriculture Minister Tota Singh saying that he was directly responsible for Rs33 crore pesticide scandal as he was the person to clear proposal sent to him by the agriculture department. “Here is one case in which the file for the purchase of pesticide has moved with extra-ordinary speed,” he said.
Bajwa pointed out to the anger among the farmers saying that this was not due to the loss due to natural calamity but because of total corruption in the Government for which action had been taken only against agriculture director whereas file got clearance at the level of the minister.
Bajwa also questioned clean chit given by Tota Singh to himself.