Funds minuscule for farmers: Badal

Seeks hiked compensation from Centre

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday described as “minuscule” the compensation given by the Centre to farmers for the losses suffered by them in natural calamity and said he will raise the issue with the Centre.

“Rs 3,500 given by the Centre per acre to the farmers for compensating their loss due to the natural disaster is minuscule in wake of the exorbitant hike in the prices of agriculture inputs borne by them to raise the crop,” Badal said.

The Union government must adopt liberal approach for compensating the flood victims in this hour of crisis, Badal said, adding he will once again take up the matter of hiking the compensation with the Union government.

He was on a tour to assess the losses due to rain in the waterlogged districts of the state.

Badal said he had time and again raised the issue of enhancing the relief amount with the previous Union government but as the “Congress leaders were unaware about the ground situation, so they hardly paid any heed towards this genuine demand.”
However, Badal said with the change of guard at the Centre the hope for adequate compensation for the victims of the tragedy has been renewed and hopefully the NDA government will look into this matter sympathetically.

The Chief Minister said the state government was aware about the hardships of the flood victims and they want to extend a helping hand to them by giving adequate financial assistance as compensation.

Badal announced that the cooperative department has been directed to postpone the recovery of loans from the farmers in wake of havoc created due to the rain.

Batting for the need of micro-planning at village level to combat the problem of waterlogging in the state, the Chief Minister said every villager from the water logged districts will have to play a proactive role in dealing with this situation.

Badal said the top brass of the state government has been deployed in these areas to properly assess the loss suffered by farmers besides ensuring prompt relief to them.