Farmers ask govt to provide canal water for farming, drinking at Moga rally

KKU state general secretary Rajinder Singh Deep Singh Wala said, “CM Bhagwant Mann is telling in his speeches that Punjab is using only 34% of canal water, while Rajasthan uses 87%. But if there is a network of canals in the state, we too will use it along with other parts of the state. Mann should take care of his own constituency Dhuri and adjoining areas.

Farmers from 65 villages of Dhuri, Malerkotla, Dirba and Sangrur Vidhan Sabha constituencies have been demanding canal water from this government but to no avail. These areas are exploited zones. What is the government doing for them? In Punjab every household has to spend on drinking water, that is, they have to install a reverse osmosis (RO) purifier to get clean drinking water or purchase water from a common RO system. Isn’t it the responsibility of the government to provide us clean drinking water?”

KKU president Nirbhai Singh Dhudike said, “We also demand opening of Attari and Hussainiwala road corridors for India-Pakistan trade in order to make farming profitable.”

“The claims of crop diversification by the central and state governments to solve the agricultural crisis are mere eyewash. The basic root of the farming crisis lies in the pro-corporate agricultural development model of the Green Revolution which has created a crisis of water and environment, besides trapping the farmers in deep debt. This model needs to be replaced with a self-sustaining, toxic-free, nature-friendly and profitable farming model,” said Rajinder Singh Deep Singh Wala while addressing the large gathering at the protest rally.

He said that KKU has also launched a campaign demanding debt relief for the farmers and a legal guarantee on MSP based on Swaminathan Commission’s ‘C2+50% formula’. It is also asking the the government to move towards water conservation, he added.

Raminder Singh Patiala said, “On the one hand the water crisis in the state is increasing day by day, on the other the CM is giving the nod to give more water to Rajasthan. We are warning the Mann government to stop playing with the emotions of the people of the state and to make arrangements to provide ‘canal water to every farm and clean potable water to every house’.”

Calling for solving the problem of river water disputes according to riparian principles, the farmer leaders said that the ‘destroyed’ canal system in the state should be repaired and restored. It is important to expand the network of canal system to ensure that the water reaches every farm and house, they added.

KKU women’s wing leader Hardeep Kaur Kotla and state leader Surinder Singh Bains accused the BJP government at the Centre of having double standards, that is, while the Centre is doing business with Pakistan through Gujarat, it is imposing restrictions on trade with Pakistan through the road corridor from Punjab.