‘Drought’ concerns Captain - CAPTAIN Asks govt to chalk out plan for farmers to provide some relief to them
Tuesday, 15/07/2014
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=110651&boxid=58732&uid=&dat=2014-07-15
Amritsar : Expressing concern over the drought-like situation in Punjab in view of the poor monsoon, Congress Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha and Amritsar MP Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday asked the state government to draw up a contingency plan to save the agriculture. He suggested that the government should order a special timely girdawri to assess the losses to the farmers so that they can be adequately compensated.
Captain Amarinder also said, “It was high time that the state government introduced the crop insurance scheme, which has been pending for a long time and has long been promised by the Akalis.”
In a statement issued, Captain Amarinder pointed out, half of the July month was over and still there were no rains except mild showers.
He said, huge areas across the state, particularly along the border belts like Amritsar and other areas were facing the drought and it was the responsibility of the government to draw up a plan to provide relief.
The former Chief Minister observed that the state government with a ‘friendly government’ at the Centre should have no problem in getting a proper contingency plan approved and funded on time. “Earlier they (the Akalis) had the standard excuse of accusing the Centre of non-cooperation but now with NDA in power, of which they are a constituent party, they must not have any problem”, he pointed out.
The Congress leader said, this was the high time for the state government to draw up a contingency plan so that the farmers are compensated on time. “I don’t understand what prevents the state government from taking timely initiative as it was wasting the precious time,” he remarked, adding, the sooner the government does it the better it would be for the farmers.
