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Ludhiana | SAD supremo Sukhbir Badal visits PAU students on protest
SAD supremo Sukhbir Singh Badal who visited the PAU campus in the evening, said that a delegation of SAD leaders will meet the Punjab governor and take up the issue. Badal demanded that all vacant posts in the agriculture and horticulture departments be filled with immediate effect
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) supremo Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday visited the protesting students of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and assured all possible help to them.
Badal, who visited the PAU campus in the evening, said that a delegation of SAD leaders will meet the Punjab governor and take up the issue. Badal demanded that all vacant posts in the agriculture and horticulture departments be filled with immediate effect.
“If need be, we will gherao the chief minister, but will not let you suffer,” he told the students.
Badal accused the AAP government of not filling more than 1,000 vacant posts in the agriculture and horticulture departments and said “Punjab needs young agriculture technocrats. Our cotton crop has been failing continuously for the last three years. Horticulturists are uprooting Kinnow orchards. We need fresh blood in the field to ensure farmers are provided adequate extension services. It is shameful that PAU students have been protesting here for nearly 10 days but the AAP government doesn’t care about to their plight.”
Badal said that the farmers from across the state, particularly from Malwa region, are suffering due to the callous attitude of the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. “The citrus farms of over 10,000 have been completely ruined in Abohar and Fazilka. Pink bollworm attacks have caused immense harm to the cotton crop. Now the farmers are facing the problem of waterlogging, but the AAP government seems to be unaware of the plight of farmers,” said Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Badal also highlighted how no recruitment had taken place in the university after the SAD-led government relinquished charge. He said the AAP government should have filled the vacant posts on a priority basis instead of forcing students to pull rickshaws and clean vehicles to focus attention on their misery. Agitating students told Badal that the chief minister had visited PAU recently but had refused to meet them or take their memorandum. They briefed the SAD president that 410 posts of agriculture development officer (ADO), 350 of agriculture sub inspector, 125 of horticulture development officer, 129 of soil conservation officer and 56 of market secretary were currently lying vacant. The protesting students also raise the issue of recruitment of non-Punjabis on the post of professors and alleged preference being given to students from other states in PhD courses at the agricultural university.
