AAP, with NRIs’ help, adopts debt-ridden farmers; gives them aid

Bathinda : With the help of NRIs, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has come to the rescue of beleaguered families of those farmers who committed suicides due to debt caused by farm loans in Punjab.
The AAP alleged that the Centre and the state government were responsible for the plight of the farmers and farm labourers in the country and have launched “Peedat Kisan Khet Mazdoor Muhim” movement to help them. Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Wednesday disbursed one-time financial aid of Rs 50,000 each to 20 families whose male members had committed suicides in the Malwa region.
“The party has adopted 50 other such families and they would be given a monthly aid of Rs 2,500 for a period of at least five years from today onwards,” Khaira said. While, 50 families have been “adopted” by two California-based doctors, Dr Harjeet Singh Gill and Sangram Singh Gill from Jhingar Kalan village near Dasuya, through the AAP, the one-time financial help of Rs 50,000 each for the 20 suicide victim families of the Malwa region has been extended by NRIs based in the US, Canada, the UK and other countries. Khaira said: “The party is not in a position to get the farm loans waived or to compensate any loss of life, but it has taken an initiative to motivate the NRIs and other people to come and help distressed farmers at a time when the Central and the state governments have “failed” to provide any relief to them.”