Chandigarh, March 28: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday slammed the sleepy governments for their deadly slumber over the naked dance of death thus aggravating the problem. Examples are a dime a dozen. Not a day passes when hundreds of reports on the deaths by suicides are not reported from across country.
Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Punjab Vidhan Harpal Singh Cheema, in a statement issued from party headquarters in Chandigarh, said that the preceding BJP-SAD government and the ruling Captain Amarinder Singh government were solely responsible for forcing the beleaguered farmers, already over-stressed due to heavy farm loans on their heads, to commit suicides.
Referring to an newspaper report published in a Punjabi daily offering an insight into the recent incident from Mallian village in Jandiala Guru under Amritsar district where a middle-aged Amridhari Sikh farmer owing a whopping loan of Rs 25 lakh on his head, was forced to commit suicide as he had not been able to repay the hefty amount he owed to banks and other money-lenders. He said this reflected the anti-farmer face of the Captain government holding the fort in the state for more than two years now.
Cheema added that the recent case was a tip of the iceberg as the scenario on the on the grounds was more alarming that meets the naked eye, he said. He added that if data of deaths by suicides culled by survey agencies was to be believed, those at the helms of affairs in the power corridor should hold their heads in shame for the sorry state of affairs.
Cheema blamed the captain government for backtracking on the promise of a complete loan waiver to bail out the farmers from the heavy debt liabilities but lamented sating nothing came out of the discourse as they continue to live under the scare of debt. He said nothing tangible had come out of its two-year long regime.
The AAP leader further added that, instead of extending succor to the aggrieved families, they were left to fend for themselves and facing starvation after losing the families’ bread winners, the deceased’s kin were left to shuttle between pillar to post to get the meager ex-gratia amount announced by the government, Cheema said.
Citing media reports, Cheema said that during the two-year of Captain Government, as many as 77 farmers and farm laborers battling financial straight had committed suicides in Bathinda district only. He blamed the government for not paying the ex-gratia payment announced.
He demanded the government should come out with certain concrete and workable measures to address the farm distress so that innocent lives could be saved from perishing, day in and day out. The only way forward, Cheema said, was to implement the Justice Swaminathan Commission recommendations, taking a cue from the Arvind Kajriwal-led government in Delhi which had already implemented the recommendations to address the farm distress.
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