Chandigarh, November 24, 2024 (Yes Punjab News)
Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today made a fervent appeal for ensuring justice to the farmers of Punjab who were being denied minimum support price (MSP) on paddy and facing severe DAP fertilizer shortage as well as Punjabis whose right over Chandigarh had been further diluted by approval of a proposal to allocate land in the union territory to Haryana to construct a separate Vidhan Sabha.
Participating in the all party meeting on the eve of the winter session of parliament, Mrs Harsimrat Badal said both the centre and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governments were responsible for the plight of the farmers of the State.
“Our farmers had to sell short as they were continuously harassed in Mandis on account of moisture content in their paddy crop. This is not all. The farmers are being denied supply of DAP fertilizer with the central government reducing the allocation of the fertilizer to Punjab by as much as Rs 1.28 lakh tonnes”.
She said farmers in Punjab also suffered due to the sale of spurious seed of early varieties of paddy which the AAP government failed to prevent as well as sale of fake DAP fertilizer. She also highlighted how Sheller owners in Punjab were complaining that even last year’s paddy stock had not been moved out of the State and that various State governments were rejecting rice sent to them from Punjab on flimsy grounds.
The MP also reminded the centre that a MSP Committee which had been promised when the Kisan Andolan was lifted, was yet to be formed to the satisfaction of Kisan organizations.
The Bathinda MP also registered her strong objection to the allocation of land in Haryana for construction of a separate Vidhan Sabha by Haryana. She said this was in violation of the Punjab Reorganization Act even as she insisted State boundaries could be amended by parliament alone.
Asserting that Chandigarh was an inalienable part of Punjab and should be transferred to the State immediately, she called for halting the allocation of land to Haryana in the union territory.
Mrs Badal also delved on how democratic functioning was being thwarted in the Panjab University, Chandigarh with the government not holding elections to the varsity’s Senate and moving to scrap the body altogether. She asserted the SAD would oppose this tooth and nail and demanded elections be held to the Senate immediately.
The SAD leader also expressed her anguish at the delay in the release of Sikh detainees whom she referred to as Bandi Singhs. She said even though the central government had issued a notification on the 550th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji in 2019 to release all the Bandi Singhs, the same had not been done till now.
She said the central government was dragging its feet and denying parole to Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana by not taking a decision on the latter’s mercy petition for the last twelve years.
Mrs Badal also called for release of all Punjab government funds which had been withheld by the centre including those for the National Health Mission, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, Ayushman Bharat as well as Rural Development Fund (RDF) dues.
She also pressed for grant of fair compensation to land being acquired by the Amritsar- Jamnagar Expressway under the Bharat Mala project and condemned the AAP government for committing atrocities on farmers who were agitating peacefully for their right to fair compensation. EOM
