SAD accuses govt of not seeking compensation for wheat growers

CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday lashed at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for not approaching the Centre to seek compensation for farmers who suffered huge losses due to fall in wheat crop yields because of inclement weather.

The SAD demanded that the Punjab government seek money under the natural calamity category from the central disaster management fund.

In a statement, SAD leader Prem Singh Chandumajra said it was shocking that the AAP government had not even approached the Centre for award of compensation to the state’s farmers who had suffered a loss of as much as Rs 10,000 per acre due to unseasonal rains in February followed by extremely high temperatures in March. Demanding that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann take up the case with the Centre, he claimed that till now, the state had not requisitioned the Centre to take stock of the losses suffered by farmers. Chandumajra said farmers had not only suffered losses due to the natural calamity which had struck them but were now also facing value cuts on account of shrivelled grains. “The chief minister should ensure that no value cuts as being proposed by the FCI (Food Corporation of India) are enforced on Punjab farmers”, he said.

Chandumajra also said that the Punjab government should demand a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal from the Centre. “The state should also compensate farmers by distributing the extra value added tax collected by it from sale of diesel during the last one month on account of steep hike in petroleum prices back to them,” said the SAD leader. Chandumajra also highlighted that farmers were facing problems in securing agriloans.

“Commission agents are not extending loans due to the partial failure of the wheat crop. The situation has been compounded with cooperative and land mortgage banks also not extending loans,” he said.