ABHOHAR: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today demanded horticulturists whose kinnow orchards had been destroyed due to a month long flooding in Abohar and Balluana assembly constituencies be awarded a compensation of Rs one lakh per acre. He also demanded compensation of Rs 40, 000 per acre for those whose paddy crops had been destroyed.
The SAD president, who visited around fifty villages in both Abohar and Balluana constituencies, also distributed three to four pumps in each of the villages visited by him besides hundreds of meters of plastic pipes at each village. He also requested the Shiromani Committee to hold medical camps where necessary besides asking the party cadre to arrange fodder for milch animals besides supplying food packets to the affected persons.
The SAD president while interacting with Kinnow farmers said it was shocking that kinnow orchards had been allowed to wither away in hundreds of acres with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government failing to arrange for facilities to clear water from the flooded fields. Farmers told Mr Sukhbir Badal that their kinnow orchards had been flooded for one month but no one from the Drainage department took any effort to drain out the water. Village women who met Mr Badal also lamented that they were being denied even basic relief facilities by the AAP government.
Mr Badal said it was even more shocking that AAP Convener, who was staying put in Mohali and was even inaugurating even one room projects, had refused to visit the flood hit areas in both districts. “Even chief minister Bhagwant Mann has failed to give any solace to those whose fields had been inundated with flood waters”. He also asked why the chief minister had not released any interim relief for the flood victims as promised by him prior to the 2022 assembly elections. “As much as Rs 5, 000 to Rs 6, 000 crore is lying with the Punjab government under the Natural Disaster Relief fund but no moneys is being released to the flood-hit”, he added
Abohar and Balluana halka incharges Harbinder Singh Harry Sandhu and Gurtej Singh Ghuriana assured the SAD president that fog machines provided by the SAD president would be given to village panchayats so that the same could be used to counter the spread of malaria. The leaders said they would also try their best to get damaged transformers repaired to restore electricity supply wherever disrupted.
Other leaders who accompanied the SAD president included Jagsir Singh Babbu Jaimalwala, Kaur Singh, Satinderjit Singh Manta and Suresh Satija. Among villages visited by the SAD president include Khui Khera – Rukanpura, Patti Billa, Dalmir Khera, Jandwala Hanwanta, Giddaranwali, Diwankhera and Khuian Sarwar.