Punjab Congress on Sunday demanded special assessment exercise in villages which had been affected by heavy rains during the last couple of days leading to severe damage to paddy in Majha, Doaba and parts of Malwa.
“Punjab earlier suffered due to drought but, the farmers did not allow the crops to get damaged by relying more on diesel pump sets which added to the input cost putting additional burden on them. At the time when the crops are nearing maturity, part of the State has been affected due to untimely heavy rains, which has complicated the situation,” said the State Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa.
Bajwa rapped the Parkash Singh Badal Government for not demanding adequate compensation from the Centre as drought relief while a smaller State like Haryana had sought a bigger package.
He pointed that the worst sufferers were the cotton growers in the Malwa belt due to heavy rains. Paddy crop too had been adversely damaged in certain areas.
Urging the Badal Government to take immediate steps to bring “truck loads” of money from its “own” NDA Government at the Centre to provide succour to the suffering farmers, Bajwa pointed that all along, Badal and his Deputy Chief Minister son Sukhbir Badal, had been alleging discrimination during the UPA regime and promising that regime change would usher Punjab into an era of prosperity with truckloads of money coming from the Centre.
“The situation is now ironic as the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has himself shattered the myth created by Badals of discrimination and refused to sanction any special package for the State,” he added.
Bajwa said that now would be the major test of the Badal Government as it would be seen as to what extent the farmers were compensated, both for drought as well for crop damage due to heavy rains.