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Punjab Bachao Yatra: Sukhbir bats for resumption of trade with Pak via Attari
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has started the party's 'Punjab Bachao Yatra' ahead of the parliamentary elections. He called for the re-opening of the international border with Pakistan to facilitate trade and for enhanced compensation for farmers tilling land beyond the barbed wire fence. The yatra will continue for a month and aims to establish a pro-people government led by the SAD. Badal also discussed the issues faced by border farmers and promised to increase their compensation.
AMRITSAR: Ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal kicked off the party’s ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’ near the zero line at Attari-Wagah border. Giving a call for re-opening of the international border with Pakistan to facilitate trade, Sukhbir also said that farmers tilling land beyond the barbed wire fence in Indian territory should be given enhanced compensation.
Earlier, Sukhbir and the senior party leadership offered prayers at Akal Takht to seek blessings for the success of the yatra.
The yatra started with Badal leading a cavalcade of vehicles accompanied by senior party leader Gulzar Singh Ranike, Bikram Singh Majithia and Anil Joshi. The yatra reached its first stop Raja Sansi today and will continue for a month.
“This yatra would lay the foundation for the ouster of the corrupt, scam-ridden, anti-Sikh and anti-Punjabi AAP government and result in the establishment of a time-tested pro-people government led by the SAD,” Sukhbir said in his address.
Sukhbir also held discussions with border farmers regarding their issues after the closure of the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Wagah which has affected their livelihood. The farmers also informed that they had not received compensation of ₹12,000 per acre per annum for land across the barbed wire fence in the last two years. The farmers also demanded that compensation for border farmers be raised to ₹35,000 per acre for land situated beyond the barbed fence.
“We will leave no stone unturned to ensure an increase in compensation received due to losses suffered in tilling land across the border,” Sukhbir told the farmers.
He said the party would also make efforts to facilitate the restart of trade at the international border, which had the potential to rejuvenate the economy of the entire area.
Later, interacting with youths at Chogawan along with Veer Singh Lopoke, the SAD president said: “We will expose all the falsehoods of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its chief minister Bhagwant Mann during the next month. We will prove that this party of outsiders and its puppet chief minister, who is controlled from Delhi, can never deliver justice to Punjabis”.
