SADA dharna today

PATIALA, JUNE 20: The Shriomani Akali Dal Amritsar has decided to organise a state-level dharna to protest the indifferent attitude of the Punjab State Electricity Board PSEB towards the genuine demands of the farmers. The party will stage the dharna in front of the office of the PSEB chairman tomorrow.

Satnam Singh Behru, president of the kisan wing of the party, told ENS today taht he had recently completed his tour of all the districts in the state and received a tremendous response from the farmers on the issue. He said the party was demanding a 14- hour power supply to the farmers for the operation of tubewells, 24-hour power supply on single phase to all the villages in the state, immediate upgradation of load of tubewells, 24-hour power supply on priority for those who had deposited securities to get this supply in the villages, replacement of burnt transformers within 24 hours. They were also demanding compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre for the farmers whose wheat was damaged due to negligence on the part of the Board.

Twenty-four hour presence of Sub-Divisional Officers SDOs and Junior Engineers at the sub-division to check tripping etc. is also being demanded, besides free supply of 100 units of power to people belonging to backward classes.

Behru said if the Board authorities failed to accept their demands, it will not hesitate in cutting off power supply to the official residences of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and PSEB Chairman S.K. Tuteja.