It is the responsibility of the state government to maintain the law and order situation and the government is fulfilling its responsibility, Aam Aadmi Party chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said Tuesday, a day after a farmer died after coming under wheels of a tractor-trolley allegedly after peasants clashed with police in Sangrur while on way to Chandigarh for a rally to press for compensation for crop loss in the recent floods. With farmers now intensifying the protest, especially after several union leaders were detained and arrested and several booked for attempt to murder after a policemen suffered injuries in Sangrur, Kang appealed to farmer organisations to maintain peace and cooperate with the government. “I appeal to farmers' organisations that instead of becoming the cause of problems for people, they should focus on solving the problem together with the government. People will be in trouble due to closed toll plazas and roads in Punjab. It is everyone's democratic right to protest peacefully, but peace and order should be maintained during protests," Kang said. He said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had held a meeting with the farmers' leaders two days ago and had even offered them place to stage their protest. “But situation turned in such a way that the government had to maintain law and order in Sangrur,” Kang added. He assured farmers about compensation, adding that the process of 'girdawari' (survey to assess losses) is underway in different areas of Punjab. "Chief Minister Mann has never turned away from problems of farmers. From day one, he has been working for the betterment of farmers. Compensation will be given soon. The state government has released Rs 186 crore to the deputy commissioners of 16 districts for the loss of crops in the flood-affected districts,” Kang said. Kang said that the payment of sugarcane was pending for the last several years. “The Mann government cleared it on a priority basis and now no one has pending sugarcane payment. Today, the farmers are getting the highest rate of sugarcane in Punjab”. Apart from this, the Land Mortgage Bank, which deals with farmers in rural areas and was on the verge of closing, was given a package of about Rs 1,100 crore by the state government. He added that most of the demands of the farmers' unions are related to the central government, so they should protest against the central government.
