Mann distributes cheques to rain-hit farmers, says Baisakhi deadline met

Abohar, April 13

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party government had created history by carrying out a special girdawari in just 20 days.

He was addressing a gathering at the new grain market and distributed symbolic cheques to the farmers whose crop had been affected due to the recent spell of unseasonal rains and thunderstorms.

“Earlier, the governments of other parties used to take months to complete the process. The previous government did not even provide compensation for the damage caused due to the standing rain water in the Balluana area in 2020 and the same has now been distributed,” the CM said.

Interestingly, this was Mann’s the third visit to Abohar and neighbouring villages in the last four months. Captain Amarinder Singh did not visit Abohar even once during his last tenure as the CM, and Parkash Singh Badal did not organise even one “sangat darshan” programme here as the CM in 2007-2012.

Mann had earlier distributed a compensation amount of Rs 25 crore to hundreds of farmers at a function in January at the same venue for crop damage due to rain in 2020.

He presented symbolic cheques of Rs 1 lakh 20 thousand each to six families whose houses were damaged due to a tornado in the border village Bakayanwala.

He said that according to the survey, crops in 362 villages of Fazilka district had been affected recently. Rs 12.94 crore was the total amount of compensation, out of which Rs 6 crore has been distributed today. This amount is being deposited directly into the bank accounts of the farmers.

The CM said that due to the unseasonal heavy rains and tornadoes last month, 25-year-old kinnow orchards were also ruined. Wheat and mustard crops were damaged.

“It is for the first time patwaris were asked not to sit in the house of any leader in a village, and conduct the girdawari at a public place,” he said, adding that the list of affected families was displayed at common places in the village to ensure that transparency was maintained and compensation reached the right hands.

Referring to the past governments, Mann said the political parties used to rub salt on the wounds of the victims by issuing cheques ranging from Rs 52 to Rs 111 and people chose to destroy the same, but this time the compensation formula had been changed.

Cabinet Minister Dr Baljit Kaur, Balluana MLA Amandeep Singh Goldy Musafir, DC Dr Senu Duggal and SP Avneet Kaur Sidhu were also present on the occasion.

review canal water allocation, Mla urges cm

• MLA Sandeep Jakhar met Chief Minister and urged him to review the decades-old policy of allocation of canal water for irrigation
• The legislator said that only 3 cubic foot per second (cusecs) of water per thousand acres of land had been the norm in Abohar
• “As groundwater is not useful for crops, the farmers are dependent only on canal water. It to increase allocation from three cusecs to seven,” he said
• Canal water should be freed from the chemical waste of Jalandhar and Ludhiana-based industrial units, he added