Punjab Congress demands Rs. 5000 per acre as drought relief for farmers

Chandigarh, July 13, 2014: The Punjab Congress President, Partap Singh Bajwa, today demanded drought relief for the farmers at the rate of Rs.5000 per acre to compensate for the addition to the cost of input in view of the deficient monsoon.
 In a statement, he observed the farmers in Punjab had never let the country down  even in times of drought by  using diesel pumping sets to irrigate their lands. What has complicated the situation further now is the acute shortage of power for which the state government is responsible.
“The ridiculous claims of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal stand exposed with the state experiencing acute power shortage and the situation having been further complicated by deficient monsoon”, he commented.
He said what was all the more ironic was that the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited announced  drastic power cut on the very same day when a full page ad had been inserted in the newspapers making tall claims about the state being power surplus. The situation in the state mocks at these ads and at Sukhbir Badal who has been making such hyperbolic claims from his rooftop of turning Punjab power surplus. Not only that,  the Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association in Ludhiana has filed a police complaint against the power corporation for this misleading advertisement.
He pointed out the much hyped thermal power plants which had come up under private sector in the state on the basis of which Sukhbir Badal had been claiming to not only make the state power surplus but also of exporting power to Pakistan had utterly failed to give the desired results. The Rajpura thermal plant with  total installed capacity of 1400 MW was supplying just 500 MW while the Talwandi Sabo plant had altogether stopped generation at this time of acute crisis. This had cut the supply by 1560 MW. The state is drawing  5400 MW from the central grid and this the maximum that the transmission system can carry. It was not the power cut that is making news but the other way round, so bad is the situation.
He said the situation has further worsened on the farm front in the wake of deficient rainfall. Power to run tubewells was just not available. The farmers had to depend upon diesel pumping sets to irrigate paddy and other crops which had multiplied the cost of input. The hardworking  farmers in Punjab were known to meet the production targets even under drought situation, sometimes even exceeding it. This year again, the farmer is at the receiving end. He reiterated that the farmers in the state should be compensated for the high cost of input due to drought at the rate of Rs. 5000 per acre. The Punjab government should either get this relief from the centre or pay from its own resources.