Stop ‘helicopter-hopping’ for few days, resolve grievances of SCs: Akali Dal

Akali Dal’s Adampur MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu says nothing happened even as it has been more than a week since CM Charanjit Singh Channi took a helicopter flight to Bathinda to see damage caused to cotton crop

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday asked Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi to stop “helicopter-hopping” for a few days and resolve grievances of the scheduled castes and weaker sections of society.

Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi with one of his cabinet colleagues. The CM recently took a helicopter flight to Malwa to see the damage caused to cotton crop in the region.

In a press statement, party spokesman and Adampur MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu said it has been more than a week since the CM took a helicopter flight to Bathinda to see the damage caused to the cotton crop over lakhs of acres of land.

“The CM had promised prompt compensation but not a single farmer or farm labourer has received any relief. The State government is yet to conduct a survey to assess the damage to the crop,” he said.

Tinu said reports coming from the Malwa region indicated that farm labourers were in dire straits due to destruction of the cotton crop and had lost their means of livelihood. “We request him to devote a few days in his office to order a comprehensive compensation for farmhands on the same lines as done by the erstwhile Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD government when the cotton crop was affected badly,” he added.