Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa lambasted chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal here on Tuesday for ditching the farmers on the proposed amendments to the land acquisition bill from which the Narendra Modi government has now backtracked.
Bajwa was here to attend the bhog ceremony of the victims of the Manikaran bus tragedy at Joga village here on Tuesday.
The state Congress president described the backtracking by the Modi government as a first major victory for the Congress, which had maintained consistent pressure on the issue under the dynamic leadership of Rahul Gandhi.
Bajwa said that it was the UPA-II that had adopted the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act in 2013 to protect the interests of the farmers which was also supported by the BJP at that time. However, after coming to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lost no time in issuing an ordinance to amend the Act to remove all the pro-farmer clauses under pressure from the corporates that had funded the BJP poll campaign.
Interacting with the bereaved families, he assured them that very soon he, with Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, would lead a delegation to meet the chief minister and demand proper compensation to the next of the kin of those who lost their lives in the accident.
{{/usCountry}}Interacting with the bereaved families, he assured them that very soon he, with Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, would lead a delegation to meet the chief minister and demand proper compensation to the next of the kin of those who lost their lives in the accident.
{{/usCountry}}He demanded that the victims' families should be given compensation to the tune of `10 lakh each.
He assured that he would also take up the matter with chief minister of Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh that the already announced compensation should be released immediately and efforts be made to search bodies on a war footing.
On the Gurdaspur terror strike, he criticised the state government for not taking up the border security issue seriously. "The CM and his deputy CM son should curtail the policemen for their own security and rather focus on strengthening the police force in the state. It was heartening to see how our police force was fighting with the terrorists in Gurdaspur," said Bajwa.
He, however, refrained from commenting on Captain Amarinder Singh's rally which was held in Rampura Phul on Tuesday.