The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday announced that its members would submit memorandums to Deputy Commissioners across the State on May 9, demanding immediate compensation to farmers to the tune of ₹500 per quintal for low wheat yields in the ongoing season.
Addressing a press conference here, senior SAD leaders Prem Singh Chandumajra and Daljit Singh Cheema said the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government should take up the issue of granting compensation at the rate of ₹500 per quintal to farmers for the loss of wheat yields by getting the case approved as one of natural calamity by the Centre. SAD leaders asked the government to compensate farm suicide victims’ families immediately.
Party leaders added that the government’s decision to divide Punjab into three zones for the purpose of paddy transplantation, and allowing transplantation only after June 24 in the third zone, would spell disaster for the State. “Farmers should not be penalised for mismanagement of power supply by the AAP government. If paddy transplantation is delayed inordinately, it will not only result in more moisture and losses for farmers but also delay the next wheat sowing season,” they said, demanding the government take back this decision immediately.
The leaders said that the SAD would be forced to launch an agitation in case the government did not “resolve the problems being faced by Punjabis”. “We would also register its protest against the deteriorating law and order situation; signing of an unconstitutional and illegal document by Punjab, which gave Delhi administrative control of the State; the alarming power situation; and rise in petroleum and LPG prices,” the leaders said.
They also demanded the AAP government adopt a triple-sharing formula to enable Punjab farmers to be debt-free by distributing the debt among the farmers, the State government, and the loaning agency.
“We also demand the government to come out with a mining policy immediately instead of concentrating on registration of cases against its political opponents. The four-time hike in sand prices had derailed the entire construction industry, leading to misery for the people as well as construction workers across the State,” SAD leaders said.
