Chandigarh, April 8 Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday attacked the AAP government for allegedly failing to fulfill its promise of Rs 50,000 per acre for crop damage and appealed to the people to stand together in helping farmers who are suffering due to unseasonal rain.
The wheat crop across 1.25 lakh acres has been affected due to unseasonal rain and hailstorms, he said.
Badal reminded the people of Punjab about how they came to the rescue of the farmers whose paddy crop was destroyed during the devastating floods last year.
The SAD president, who held a meeting with the party's constituency in-charges and district presidents, said a detailed plan had been drawn up to start distributing wheat, as well as dry and green fodder, to the affected farmers after April 20.
"We are establishing collection points for the relief material, which will then be distributed in the affected villages," he said.
Badal also said that the SAD was also in the process of arranging balers who would make bales in the fields of affected farmers free of cost, so that they could earn additional income in this process.
The party would also try to provide assistance to small farmers whose vegetable produce had been damaged by the recent hailstorms, he said.
The SAD president also criticized Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for "failing" to fulfill his responsibility towards the suffering farmers.
He said that the chief minister, as well as the Aam Aadmi Party, had repeatedly announced before coming to power in 2022 that they would provide an advance compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre for crop damage before any survey.
He said that the AAP government had failed to release any compensation for crop damage following the floods across four lakh acres last year.
"Now also, the government has refused to help the distressed farmers by releasing compensation to them," he said.
Asserting that the SAD would do its utmost for the farmers, Badal also criticized AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal for "lying" during election campaigning in Gujarat – allegedly claiming that the Punjab government had released a compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre to farmers one month after they suffered losses due to flooding of their fields.