AAP MLA from Ajnala and former Punjab cabinet minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Monday visited nearly a dozen villages located near the Ravi river in his constituency along India-Pakistan international border.
Visiting Ghonewala, Daria Musa, Kot Razada, Chaharpur, etc., he met with gram panchayats, farmers, farm labourers and border residents to review the current situation of possible floods. He also held a meeting with BSF officers and jawans stationed at the border outpost in Kamalpur to gather information about the rising waters of the Ravi.
“Due to heavy rains and cloudbursts in Himachal Pradesh, uncontrollable and blind flow of water from the mountains towards the plains of Punjab has not only damaged embankments and flooded fields, destroying the crops of farmers but is also eroding fertile lands, dragging them into the river. Because of the anti-farmer policies of the central government, farmers, already trapped in debt and driven to suicides, are losing more of their land,” he said.
“In view of this, the governments of Rajasthan and Haryana should have come forward to share equal compensation for the losses in Punjab and raise their voice for the rights of the victims. But, instead, these neighbouring state governments, bent on usurping Punjab’s waters, have kept their eyes closed,” the MLA alleged.
{{/usCountry}}“In view of this, the governments of Rajasthan and Haryana should have come forward to share equal compensation for the losses in Punjab and raise their voice for the rights of the victims. But, instead, these neighbouring state governments, bent on usurping Punjab’s waters, have kept their eyes closed,” the MLA alleged.
{{/usCountry}}The former minister also criticised Pakistan for building high studs along the Ravi river banks in its territory, adjoining districts Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Amritsar (Ajnala sub-division), causing strong water flow of the Ravi to divert towards India, affecting the fertile agricultural land of villages as well as BSF outposts beyond the border fence.