Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Wednesday ordered for completion of the work of special Girdawari (harvest inspection) immediately to assess the actual damage to the cotton crop affected by the pink bollworm infestation.
Randhawa directed the financial commissioner development to ensure the affected farmers be compensated before Diwali after completion of the special girdawari so that the losses incurred by the farmers of the cotton belt could be compensated.
The deputy CM said after the attack of pink locust on the cotton crop in the Malwa belt, the affected areas were visited under the leadership of the Chief Minister. After this, he along with agriculture minister Randeep Singh Nabha called on a meeting with the farmers’ leaders and issued special girdawari orders.
Randhawa said the agriculture department should ensure the immediate completion of the special girdawari of the affected crop and ensure compensation before Diwali in all cases.
Amid major damage to the cotton crop due to the pink bollworm attack, the Shiromani Akali Dal had on Saturday said the non-committal attitude of the Charanjit Singh Channi government over compensation had resulted in suicide by five farmers in Bathina alone.
In a statement, the SAD farmer’s wing president Sikander Singh Maluka said neither the government conducted a girdawari to assess the loss, nor it provided immediate relief to farmers who had suffered huge losses due to the destruction of their crop.
Maluka said thousands of acres of cotton crop had been completely destroyed due to the pink bollworm attack. He said distressed farmers were committing suicide but the Congress government was busy with internal bickering and had no time to solve the problems of farmers.
He said even after spraying hundreds of litres of pesticides, farmers have failed to get a reprieve from the disease and the government has failed to come to their rescue. He said moreover the government had even failed to act against those who had supplied spurious seeds to farmers.
The SAD leader urged the government to act fast in the matter to save precious lives as huge losses were pushing farmers to take the extreme step which had started another era of mass suicides. He said that SAD had alerted the government long ago but the Channi government failed to act on time.