Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday said power cuts in Punjab are threatening to destroy standing paddy and vegetable crops of flood hit farmers.
The SAD chief said “farmers in Muktsar, Fazilka and Ferozepur districts are reporting eighteen to twenty hour power cuts which is resulting in the withering of their paddy and vegetable crops besides severely affecting their horticulture trees”. He said the situation had been compounded in the districts by attempts to forcibly close more than 700 lift irrigation pumps.

Badal said farmers were being forced to operate lift pumps at one week intervals or face registration of cases. “Those farmers who have been allocated canal water share are being banned from operating lift pumps altogether with the order being enforced by the police,” he added.

The SAD leader said simultaneously the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government which had flooded its own villages in Ferozepur by releasing water from the Harike headworks into villages in the state instead of the Rajasthan canal during the recent floods, was now increasing canal water supply to Rajasthan.

“The forcible closure of lift irrigation pumps of farmers in Punjab is also aimed at artificially inflating the availability of canal water so that Rajasthan’s share can be increased further to derive political benefits for AAP in elections to that state,” Badal said.

He said such policies had resulted in drying up of water at tails of canals which had further aggravated the misery of farmers of the State.
The SAD president said urban areas as well as the industrial sector were also facing rampant power cuts. He said traders and industrialists were suffering on this account with the industry sector being most severely hit.

“A situation has arisen where people are being forced to shift back to generators”, Badal said adding all this would have an adverse impact on the state’s economy.
The Akali leader said farmers were also complaining of frequent power breakdowns. “This is because the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) is unable to conduct routine maintenance services due to lack of funds. Farmers are being forced to get their transformers repaired themselves,” he said

Badal said a short dry spell had exposed the preparations of the AAP government. “One shudders to think what would have happened if we had not had ample rains in June and July,” he said.
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