Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today castigated the union government for failing farmers by refusing to implement the Swaminathan Commission recommendations on MSP for crops, even as she called for implementing the Bhav Antar scheme till this was not done. She also called for reopening the Wagah border for international trade, giving concessions to the cycles and sports industry and releasing Rural Development Fund and Sarv Siksha Abhiyan dues to Punjab.
Speaking on the budget, the Bathinda MP also called for righting the historical wrongs done to Punjab by giving it compensation for grant of 8 MAF water to Rajasthan as well as ensure the transfer of Chandigarh to the State. Asserting that the “Sarkar Bachao budget” 2024 had discriminated against the farmers, poor, women and youth, Mrs Harsimrat Badal said “this budget has only tried to serve the two alliance partner States of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar who received the lion’s share of funds along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled States even as all other States had been given a step motherly treatment”.
The MP in her stirring speech said it was shocking that even natural calamities like floods and religious circuits had not been spared from bias. “Religious circuits and temple have received special grants but Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar where two lakh lakh devotees from across the globe visit every day, has not been given any grant under the religious tourism head. She said similarly the pick and choose policy had been implemented in the case of natural calamities as well. She said Himachal had received flood relief “but Punjab, which is flooded when gates of dams in Himachal are thrown open, has been forgotten”.
