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Relief needed in Punjab before assessment: Bajwa
He said the remaining ₹30,000 per acre can be released after proper assessment, ensuring a total package of ₹50,000 per acre for the affected farmers.
Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa on Saturday said the state government should immediately release ₹20,000 per acre as compensation without any assessment or girdawari to farmers whose crops have been destroyed by the recent floods. He said the remaining ₹30,000 per acre can be released after proper assessment, ensuring a total package of ₹50,000 per acre for the affected farmers.
Bajwa said the devastation was so widespread that preliminary relief should not be delayed in the name of paperwork. “The fields of Punjab are under water and sand. Yet the AAP government is telling them to wait for surveys and girdawaris,” Bajwa stressed.
Bajwa further pointed out that the Union government has released ₹1,582 crore under the SDRF as per chief secretary KAP Sinha, but CM Bhagwant Mann has failed to distribute the funds. Bajwa added that as per a report of CAG, there was a corpus of ₹9,041 crore under the SDRF on March 31, 2023. “The money was used by AAP for PR and advertisements,” he alleged.
Negligence behind crisis, says Warring
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who met flood-affected families in Mabboke Chaunki village of Ferozepur, accused the Punjab and the Union governments of negligence, charging that a delay in river desilting and poor dam management aggravated both pollution and flood crises. He was accompanied by Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya and district Congress chief Kulbir Singh Zira. Ration, blankets, medicines, drinking water and fodder for livestock was distributed. Warring promised help during the upcoming wheat sowing season to offset crop losses.
“Adequate relief is still awaited for the affected people,” Warring said while talking to mediapersons.
