Mansa, March 24
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the Aam Aadmi Party was forcing farmers to commit suicide in despair after failing to give them any succor be it fulfilling the promise to provide minimum support price on 22 crops, not purchasing pulses even after official announcements and not giving compensation for huge crop losses during the devastating floods last year.
Expressing sorrow at the extreme step taken by two brothers – Jaswinder and Jaskaran of Faridkot district after becoming severely indebted, the SAD president said, “AAP promised big but did not deliver anything to farmers. It did not even purchase the ‘Moong’ pulse which chief minister Bhagwant Mann promised to procure. It has not intervened to stop distress sale of cotton, maize or potatoes. It has not only failed to give the promised Rs 50,000 compensation for crop damage but has also not given any compensation whatsoever to farmers whose crop was damaged across four lakh acres in the floods last year”.
Addressing a huge rally here as part of the Punjab Bachao campaign of the party along with senior leader Prem Arora, the SAD president said the government was doing nothing except for advertising. He said the AAP government had spent Rs 4,400 crore on advertising with the latest advertising campaign claiming Punjab was number one in school education. “This is being done even though national level statistics have rated Punjab to be in the 18th position in school education vis a vis other States”, adding “this is understandable with even the chief minister not trusting government schools to educate his daughter and instead going for the most expensive private school for this purpose,” added Badal.
Badal also announced that the next SAD government would establish a World Skill Training University in the region. “The university will have an annual intake of one lakh students and will establish centers in each district with the purpose of skilling the youth in partnership with corporate giants. This will make our youth employable and fetch them good salaries,” he added. Badal also announced that underground pipes would be installed in Mansa constituency to provide optimum irrigation services to farmers.
