Captain Amarinder for talks with state farmes
Sunday, 04/10/2015
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=141473&boxid=57866&uid=&dat=2015-10-04
Chandigarh: Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Captain Amarinder on Saturday questioned the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s “silence” over the 15-day-long protest by farmers in Bathinda, which he said is gradually spilling over to other parts of the state. “I am surprised as what stops Badal from talking to farmers directly”, he said in a statement released here, while apprehending use of brute force against the protesting farmers, which he warned will only add fuel to the fire that will be difficult to control.
Asserting that the farmers’ discontent was neither spontaneous nor without justified reasons, Capt Amarinder said it had been brewing up for a long time and only the government was not taking note of it. “I have been warning over a period of time not to take farmers’ discontent lightly and I am warning you again before it is too late,” he warned, saying such situations can provide fertile and conducive ground for disruptive forces to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in the state. “Either Badal is blissfully ignorant about the intensity of anger prevailing among the farming community which has all the likelihood to spill over,” he said in the statement.DP
Farmers’ body rejects cotton crop compensation
Moga :A farmers’ body, while rejecting Rs 640 crore compensationannounced by Punjab government for cotton growers whose crop was damaged by pest attack, hastermed it as “meagre” and said their protest will continue. “The estimated loss of cotton growers is about Rs 4,200 crore. Such a meagre relief announced by the government is not acceptable to farmers,” said Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Sukhdev Singh Kokari, president and general secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta (Ugrahan) here. The farmer leaders said that they would continue their protest in all the districts of the state by staging sit-ins in front of district administrative complexes against the Punjab government. Farmers’ union would meet here on Sunday and would decide next line of action of the protest, they said.
It also questioned the ‘girdawari’ conducted by the revenue department to assess the crop loss. “Revenue department assessed compensation without carrying out physical verification of the damage caused to cotton during the Girdawari process. The girdawari done is a mere eye wash, as farmers were not inquired about any loss to the crop,” they jointly said. Punjab government has released an amount of Rs 643.58 crore as compensation for farmers, who suffered substantial loss of cotton crop due to whitefly and other pests in nine districts of the state.
Around 8,30,855 acres of cotton crop has been destroyed due to pest attacks in these districts. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash SinghBadal on Friday said the SAD-BJP government always stood by the farmers during their difficult times and lashed out at the Congress for shedding crocodile tears over peasants suffering losses in their cotton crop. The SAD-BJP government was concerned about the problems faced by farmers during difficult times and Rs 640 crore was released as compensation for the cotton growers who suffered substantial loss to their cotton crop in Malwa belt due to sudden attack from white fly, he said. The SAD-BJP government has also released Rs 700 crore for the cane growers and was fully sensitised to the agrarian issues and thus it was giving free power to farmers despite severe criticism from several quarters including the previous Congress led UPA government, Badal said while addressing a gathering at Ropar at a state level function after launching Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna (BPSSBY) for Blue Card Holders (BPL) families and dedicating Rs 180 crore Rupnagar by-pass.
