Chandigarh, August 21, 2023: As per certain media reports, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today condemned the arrest of several Farmer Unions leaders in different parts of the Punjab solely to prevent them from staging a dharna in the union territory to demand compensation for the victims of the devastating floods in Punjab.
SAD leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was sprinkling salt on the wounds of the peasantry by refusing to release compensation to them and arresting Kisan leaders who wanted to highlight the misery of the farmers, farm labourers and poor sections of society. “This is not only dictatorial but inhuman also.
SAD demands the immediate release of all arrested farm leaders and also supports their right to protest”.
Asserting that the AAP government was trying to run away from awarding fair compensation to the farmers, senior SAD leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said “first chief minister Bhagwant Mann assured award of compensation till August 15.
Farmers were assured that besides getting compensation for crop damage, they would be awarded compensation for loss of livestock including hens and goats”.
He said Instead of taking concrete steps to release compensation to farmers, the chief minister was busy ferrying his boss Arvind Kejriwal to election bound States of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh”.
Dr Cheema said instead of awarding interim relief of Rs 25,000 per acre immediately after the State was struck by floods in July and final award of Rs 75,000 per acre was being demanded by the farm organizations, the government was now trying to run away from giving compensation to farmers.
Dr Cheema said farmers were in dire straits as the government was yet to pay compensation for last year’s crop damage. “Now with this compensation award also being put in the cold storage the entire economy of the State will be affected”.
Dr Cheema also condemned the government for failing to pay compensation to farm labourers as well as those whose houses had been damaged in the recent floods. He said many people were still sitting in the open after the destruction of their houses but they were yet to receive any relief from the State.
