PHILLAUR: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said his party would lay concrete bundhs and embankments in flood prone areas once it came to power in 2027 to eradicate the menace of floods once and for all from Punjab.
Addressing villagers who had gathered at the Dhussi bundh in this constituency, the SAD president said “both the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have failed you. They have even failed to maintain your bundhs forget strengthening them. This has increased the menace of floods in Punjab manifold. I am committed to finding a holistic solution to the entire issue. Besides laying concrete at crucial bundhs and river embankments, we will also finish part two of the project to lay concrete embankments to control the fury of the Ghaggar river”.
The farmers while interacting with the SAD president said they were living in misery since the last floods in 2023. They disclosed that even roads which had been damaged in the 2023 floods had not been repaired even as no effort was taken to make the Dhussi bundh fool proof. “The AAP government abandoned us earlier and continues to ignore is even now”, they asserted.
Badal on his part assured the village committees that he would provide 4, 000 liters of diesel to strengthen the bundh, do earthworks on roads and clear sand from farmer fields. He also assured to send tractors and JCB machines for this purpose besides giving financial help to the village committees on the spot.
The SAD president, who was accompanied by senior party leader Baldev Singh Khehra, also disclosed that the party was dispatching maize silage for livestock in all flood affected farmers and requested the village committees to give their requirements to Mr Baldev Khehra. He said besides this a comprehensive programme had been devised to distribute certified wheat seed to farmers for one lakh acres of land.
He said the Shiromani Committee had also decided to distribute certified seed for one lakh acres of land.
He also appealed to the Punjab government not to delay compensation for crop losses. “The time to give compensation is now when the farmers need it most to prepare their fields for the next crop”.
He said the AAP government should also distribute certified seed across the remaining two lakh acres besides providing DAP fertiliser to farmers free of cost.