Stand up for farmers whose wheat crop damaged by rain, says Sukhbir Badal

Chandigarh, April 8 Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Wednesday appealed to Punjabis to unite in support of farmers whose wheat crop has been damaged over 1.25 lakh acres due to unseasonal rain and hailstorms.

Badal, who held a meeting with the party’s ‘halka’ in-charges and district presidents, said a detailed plan had been charted to start distribution of wheat as well as dry and green fodder to affected farmers after April 20.

“We are creating nodal points for the collection of the relief material, which then will be distributed in the affected villages,” Badal said.

The party was also in the process of arranging balers who would create bales in the fields of affected farmers, free of cost, so that they could earn additional money in this process.

He said the party would also try to extend help to small farmers whose vegetable produce had been damaged by the hail.

Badal also took on Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for failing to fulfill his responsibility towards the suffering farmers. He said the Chief Minister, as well as the Aam Aadmi Party, had repeatedly announced before coming to power in 2022 that it would provide an advance compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre for crop damage before any survey or ‘girdwari’.

He said the AAP government had failed to release any compensation for crop damage following the floods across 4 lakh acres last year.

“Now, the government has also refused to help the distressed farmers by releasing compensation to them,” he said.

Asserting that the Akali Dal would do its utmost for the farmers, Badal also castigated AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal for lying during election campaigning in Gujarat that the AAP government in Punjab had released a compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre to farmers one month after they suffered losses due to flooding of their fields.

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