Cong to ‘reach out’ to deceased farmers’ families to target govt
Thursday, 07/01/2016
http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Tribune/
Patiala : The state Congress has decided to reach out to families of all the farmers who have committed suicide in the past decade “to find the reasons that led to the suicide and to expose the SAD-BJP government’s failure to save the farming community in the state”.
Eyeing the 2017 polls, Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh has decided to launch the “Pagri Sambhal Kissana” movement.
The Congress’ movement is aimed at personally reaching out to the families of the deceased farmers wherein the cell will approach the affected family and hand them a personally signed letter by Captain Amarinder Singh that mentions that the “black period of farmers’ suicides will end soon”. Capt Amarinder Singh has appointed former irrigation department official Jaskaran Singh Sandhu as chairman, Grievances Cell of the All-India Jat Maha Sabha, who has been handed over the tedious task to approach all families who have lost their earning hand to suicide.
Farmer suicides have been one of the crucial issues that has been touched upon by all political outfits and with the increasing number of such suicides in the state, the political parties in the Opposition have got enough ammunition to target the ruling SAD-BJP alliance.
A recent survey report says that 5,000 farmers and farm labourers committed suicide in Punjab between 2000 and 2010 which means three suicides every two days. Bathinda, Sangrur and Mansa are the most severely affected districts of the state.
