Chandigarh, April 7 – Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal stated on Tuesday that the party would formulate a program to assist distressed farmers whose standing crops had been damaged across 1.25 lakh acres, as they had been completely abandoned by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab.
Addressing a rally in the town of Budhlada as part of the party’s “Save Punjab” campaign, the SAD President said, “We are creating a program to provide wheat, as well as green and dry fodder, to the affected farmers.”
He said the details of the entire program would be finalized at a meeting of the party’s district presidents and local representatives in Chandigarh on Wednesday.
Asserting that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had abandoned the farmers, he stated that they were still awaiting compensation for the destruction of their paddy crops due to last year's floods.
“Even after unseasonal rain and hailstorms have flattened the wheat crop across 1.25 lakh acres, they have not been given any immediate compensation, despite being promised by the Aam Aadmi Party.”
He further stated that AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal was lying in Gujarat, claiming that the AAP government had provided compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre to Punjab farmers within one month of the floods last year. Badal asserted that the lies of AAP and CM Mann knew no bounds.
“Even though it is clear that incidents of sacrilege began in Punjab after the AAP entered the state in 2014, the Chief Minister today is claiming that I am responsible for committing sacrileges. If this is the case, then why does he not register a case against me?” he asked.
Badal also spoke about how the AAP and the Congress had joined forces in a desperate attempt to stop the SAD’s influence in the state.
He stated that Punjab Congress President Raja Amarinder Singh Warring was also adopting the Chief Minister’s language.
The SAD President also announced that a hospital of the stature of AIIMS would be established in Mansa, alongside a veterinary college.
He said that all link roads would be renovated, and that roads would be built to connect all ‘dhanis’ (villages).
He also announced that streets and drains in all 12,500 villages of the state would be paved with concrete, and that every family would have a ‘pucca’ (concrete) house.
Speaking on the occasion, Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal spoke about how the previous SAD government had spent Rs 800 crore on irrigation projects in Budhlada alone.
She stated that the AAP government had repeatedly failed to provide compensation to farmers, whether due to floods, bollworm attacks, or hailstorms.