A day after Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh visited the farmers whose cotton crop has been severely affected by the white-fly in Mansa, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday asked the Congress Government to announce appropriate compensation to Malwa farmers whose crops had been destroyed instead of insulting them by doubting their claims.
“Farmers are under great strain due to failure of the Congress Government to fulfill its loan waiver promise. Now farmers in the Malwa region are facing an acute white-fly attack. It is unfortunate that instead of consoling these farmers and announcing immediate financial relief to them, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has ruled out any relief package for them by stating that the damage was very less,” SAD spokesperson Maheshinder Singh Grewal said in a statement here .
The Akali leader said the fact that the Chief Minister had erred in making this statement was proved from the fact that farmers uprooted their cotton crop in his presence at Sahnewali village in Mansa. “The farmers also raised slogans against the Chief Minister and the Punjab Government for the apathy shown to them. This is an unfortunate development. The head of the State is expected to rise to the occasion and provide relief to its citizens and should not ridicule them in their moment of suffering “.
Speaking about other steps which could be taken, the Akali leader said no SIT had been formed till now to look into the sale of spurious pesticides. “No spurious BT cotton seeds have been detected or seized. All this indicates that the State agencies are still not taking this issue seriously “.
Grewal also asked what action had been taken against Agriculture department officials who had been caught napping. “The State had a moderate winter due to which there was no ground frost which helps in breaking the reproductive cycle of the white-fly bug. The agriculture department should have taken necessary preventive action knowing the disease could manifest itself this season “.