Chandigarh, April 16, 2021
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has demanded from Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to pay 100 per cent compensation to the farmers for the damage caused to the wheat fields due to fire at various places in the state. AAP MLA and Kisan Wing president Kultar Singh Sandhwan said that hundreds of acres of wheat crop were destroyed by fire every year due to which farmers had to bear loss of crores of rupees; but past governments had not taken any concrete steps to address this problem. He appealed to the government to cover up the crop loss due to fire in the state and compensate the farmers for their economic loss by paying the due amount per acre.
Sandhwan further said that hundreds of acres of wheat and pulses fields in the state including Moga, Ludhiana, Barnala, SAS Nagar districts of Punjab had been damaged due to fire causing huge economic loss to the farmers. “The fire burns the edible crop, where on the other hand, the straw for making fodder for animals is reduced to ashes. This is causing double economic loss to the farmers,” he added. Sandhwan said that the Congress and the SAD-BJP governments in Punjab had broken up the power board into corporations and abolished government jobs and introduced a contracting system which was causing continuous deterioration in power supply. He said that short circuits were taking place due to loose power supply wires of the power corporation passing through the fields of the state, due to which the wheat fields were on fire.
“Even though it all happens suddenly, the firefighting system in the state remains dilapidated and in shambles,” said Sandhwan. He said that most of the districts in the state do not have fire brigade vehicles, and those which are there are faulty and battered. The AAP leader said that the faulty fire vehicles were failing to control the fire in the wheat fields. “No concrete policy has been adopted for the development of agriculture and crop management,” he added. Sandhwan said that when the farmers talk to the administrative officials of the government about the damage caused by the fire and the power lines, the officials treat the farmers badly, which was highly reprehensible. He appealed to the Captain Amarinder Singh to come out of his farmhouse and solve the problems which the farmers across appealed to the Captain Amarinder Singh to come out of his farmhouse and solve the problems which the farmers across the state were facing.
