Known for his ‘out-of-the-box’ moves, the former cricketer and now Punjab cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday announced to pay Rs 24 lakh compensation “from his own pocket” to the farmers of Rajasansi area whose 300 acre standing wheat was gutted due to short circuit recently.
The state local Bodies Minister visited Uthian village to meet the affected farmers whose crop was damaged.
As an immediate relief, he announced to pay the compensation, worked out to be around Rs 24 lakh. As per norms, farmers in such cases are paid compensation of Rs 8,000 per acre.
Taking another “on the spot” decision, Sidhu also announced one fire tender each for Ajnala, Rajasansi, Amritsar East and Amritsar North assembly constituencies.
He made the announcement when his attention was drawn to shortage of fire tenders to deal with incidents of fire.
Accompanied by Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Kamaldeep Sangha and other top officials of the district administration, Sidhu personally visited the affected wheat fields.
Interestingly, the affected village is not part of Sidhu’s constituency. He represents Amritsar East constituency. Moreover, the issue of providing compensation for damage to agricultural produce does not come under the purview of his portfolio.
Sidhu appreciated the duty performed by DC Sangha and SDM Ajnala Dr Anupreet Kaur and other officials who promptly reached the affected area upon receiving information about damage to wheat crop.
He lauded DC Sangha and his team of officials for accompanying him to the spot despite Sunday being the official weekly holiday. DC Sangha assured the Minister that the case for compensation would be prepared and sent to PSPCl as soon as possible to ensure payment of compensation without any delay.