The Punjab Government today came to the aid of thousands of farmers owning land across the barbed wire fence on the Indo-Pak border by granting them an annual compensation of Rs. 3000 per acre which has been denied to them since the last ten years by the Congress led UPA government.Presiding over a special function along with Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia to disburse compensation cheques of worth Rs. 99 lakh to 3285 farmers belonging to 47 border villages of Amritsar district with 3327 acres of land across the fencing, Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said the government had decided to compensate them for the difficulty faced by them in cultivating their land by deciding to restart the cash compensation scheme. He said this scheme was initiated more than ten years back by the central government led by the NDA but had been discontinued during UPA rule.Nearly 20,000 acres of land in six border districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Ferozepur, Tarn Taran and Fazilka is situated beyond the international fencing in Indian Territory.Badal said the Punjab government had released Rs. 6 crore for compensation this year from its limited resources as the Congress led UPA Government did not bother to come to the aid of Punjabi farmers despite requests made by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to the Prime Minister as well as the Union Home minister. He said the State government would make this an annual feature.
In another major relief for border farmers, the Deputy CM announced that every farmer having land across the barbed fence would be awarded a tubewell connection by December this year. He informed that till date around 2000 tube well connections had already been issued to the farmers having land across the fencing.Lambasting the Congress led UPA for constant neglect of border areas, Mr. Badal said the compensation scheme was launched during the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee after Mr Parkash Singh Badal invited then Union Home minister L.K Advani to the border villages in order to understand the hardships being faced by the farmers there. He said besides various restrictions, the farmers could only work limited hours at their fields due to security issues.Making an emotional appeal to the mammoth gathering, the Deputy Chief Minister said that time has come to shunt-out the Congress led UPA regime to bring a decisive and pro-people government at the centre.
Later interacting with media persons, Mr. Badal said that by not inviting Punjab Chief Minister on the foundation stone laying ceremony of PGI’s Satellite Cancer Treatment Center at Sangrur, the Congress led UPA government has not only breached protocol but also harmed democratic values. He said the people of Punjab were intelligent enough and fully understood the game plan of the Congress and would teach it a lesson in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
Earlier speaking on the occasion, Punjab Revenue and Public Relations Minister Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia said the Congress had always accorded step-motherly treatment to Punjab farmers and that the farmers of the border region were the worst sufferers. He said farmers were dealing with two borders. One International and the second one the fencing erected by the Union Home Ministry as farmers did not have freedom to cultivate their own land in Indian territory even after 66 years of independence.Mr Majithia pointed out the grave injustice being meted out to the border farmers by not only denying them compensation, but also not compensating them for land acquired for various purposes like construction of 11 feet wide road along with fencing setting up of border posts, bunkers and pillars. He said that it was an irony that despite a Sikh Prime Minister who belonged to Amritsar the problems of border farmers were multiplying day by day as the Gandhi family had reduced the PMO office to the status of a rubber stamp.
He said that consecutive tenures of Congress led UPA government has broken the backbone of Punjab peasantry with roof piercing inflation in agri-inputs with many fold increase in fertilizers, pesticides, diesel followed by non-remunerative MSP ignoring recommendations of Dr. Swaminathan Commission.Describing the ‘Adhikar Yatra’ being launched by Punjab Youth Congress as ‘Antim Yatra’ of Congress led UPA regime, Mr. Majithia said that the people of country have already made up their mind to install NDA Government keeping its previous record of clear vision and decisiveness. He said that once the NDA Government takes over the reins of country, he was fully confident that these farmers would get compensation to the tune of Rs. 20000 per acre.Describing the 8 congress Member Parliaments from Punjab as ‘paper tigers’, Mr. Majithia asked the PPCC President Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa to point out a single project or package being sanctioned by the Punjab mps or him for Punjab or the border area. He said in the forthcoming parliament session SAD-BJP MPs from Punjab would raise the issue of constant neglect of border farmers.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Gulzar Singh Ranike, Cabinet Minister, representing Attari constituency on Indo-Pak border briefly outlined the problems being faced by the border farmers. He also expressed gratitude for the Punjab Government’s Special Anti-narcotic drive resulting in major recoveries.Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included, Mr. Virsa Singh Valtoha, Mr. Harmeet Singh Sandhu, Mr. Indebir Singh Bolaria and Mr. Amarpal Singh Ajnala, all Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, Mr. Manjit Singh Manna, MLA and Mr. Veer Singh Lopoke, Chairman District Planning Committee.