Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Faridkot Member Parliament Sadhu Singh today criticised the Parkash Singh Badal led Punjab government for its inability and helplessness to check the spate of suicides being committed by farmers in the state.Two farmers in Mansa district have committed suicide due to debt burden and crop loss. Twenty three year old farmer Amandeep Singh hanged himself in his room in Makhewala village of Mansa district late on Sunday evening.Another farmer Kala Singh, 35, of Ralla village, who owned 7 Kanals of land but would also work as a labourer at a furnace committed suicide on Monday following loss in agriculture.
The AAP MP said though Badal always claim to be the champion to the cause of the farmers but he has virtually done nothing for the peasantry of Punjab who are forced to end their lives due to crop failure and due to losses incurred in farming. On saturday night farmer Gurmail Singh, 42, Bodawal village in Mansa committed suicide by consuming poison. Gurmail had sown cotton in 10 acres but the crop was damaged in whitefly attack. Gurmail was under he debt of Rs. 6 Lakh.On January 12, farmer Major Singh, 52, of Rajpur village had committed suicide by consuming poison. He too was under debt of Rs. 16 Lakh due to the loss of the cotton crop. On January 7, farmer Nachhattar Singh, 48, of Joga village committed suicide. he owned only one acre and was under debt of Rs. 3 Lakh.
Sadhu Singh said it was really unfortunate that the Badal government has failed to adequately compensate the Punjab farmers whose cotton crop was damaged due to the whitefly attack. " The farmers' organisations had staged a series of demonstration all over the state trying to impress upon the Badal government to punish those who were responsible for supplying spurious insecticides which led to whitefly attack but nothing has been done so far in this regard", said the AAP, MP.