Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has decided to give compensation to farmers in the national capital who have lost their crops due to hailstorm and unseasonal rain.
Addressing a ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ in north-west Delhi’s Kanjhawala area, the Delhi Chief Minister said the compensation will be provided later this year after an assessment report is received from the Divisional Commissioner about the loss suffered by the farmers.
“We will give compensation to those farmers who have lost their crops due to hailstorm and unseasonal rain earlier this year,” he said.
A senior government official said the quantum of compensation would be decided on the basis of the assessment report from the Divisional Commissioner.
Last year, the Kejriwal government had paid Rs 50,000 per hectare/ Rs 20,000 per acre to farmers who suffered losses due to unseasonal rains and hailstorm.
“Through this platform, I want to tell you that our government will give you the same compensation which you had received last year,” Kejriwal said while addressing the rally amidst cheers.
He said 95 per cent of the farmers were affected and they all received their compensation cheques.
Terming as “insult” the compensation amount of “just Rs 500” reportedly paid to a farmer by the Haryana government, Kejriwal said “Farmers are not beggars, it’s an insult. They need to understand the importance of a farmer. The day they stop doing their job, all these politicians will die of hunger”.
He said by compensating the farmers, AAP government is not doing any favour. “We also gave Rs 30,000 per hectare as compensation, but we didn’t do a favour. Your problems are our problems,” he said.
Listing out the achievements of his government, he said before he came to power, the cost of electricity in Delhi was high. “I gave a subsidy of Rs 1,400 crore which benefited 36 lakh people. And what did the Modi government do? They gave a loan of Rs 9,000 crore to Vijay Mallya and he fled the country,” he alleged.
Raking up the issue of the visit of the Joint Investigation Team from Pakistan, he said he was deeply pained by the Centre’s decision to invite a probe team from that country which visited Pathankot air base in the aftermath of the deadly attacks.
“We all know who did it. Everybody knows Pakistan is behind it. Our soldiers were killed and what our PM did in response? He hugged PM Nawaz Sharif,” the Chief Minister said.
He said the “invitation” to the the team from Pakistan to investigate the incident was “not right”.
He also took a jibe at the media before concluding his speech. “Media says I fight a lot. Am I fighting for myself? I am fighting for you,” he added.