Punjab government yet to compensate families in cases of farmer suicides
While releasing the compensation, it was found that the address of the affected families did not match with the ones recorded by government officials during their survey.
Several families in Bathinda district-the home constituency of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal-are yet to receive compensation from the Punjab government in cases of farmer suicides even after nine months of its announcement.
While releasing the compensation, it was found that the address of the affected families did not match with the ones recorded by government officials during their survey. Sources in the government said the officials entrusted with the job of gathering information had entered wrong addresses.
In 2009, the Punjab government conducted a survey to ascertain and record the cases of farmer suicides reported between 2001 and 2008. Fifty-one families of Maud area under Bhatinda district were included in the list. In January this year, the state government had sanctioned a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the aggrieved families. Though funds were released for the purpose, the payments were withheld after the mismatch in addresses and other details came to the notice of the officials concerned.
The sources cited five cases in which discrepancies in the details of the victims came to the fore when the compensation was to be dispatched to their families. Farmers Kulwant, Gurdeep, Ajaib, Jagsir and Hardev Singh, who hailed from Bhundad village, were shown as residents of Pitho village. Similarly, the records of six victims from Khokhar village wrongly showed them as residents of Ghadaili, Kauda, Kotda and Bhaini Chuhad villages.
When contacted, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president of Sidhpur, Baldev Singh, blamed the district administration for the lapses resulting in the delay of disbursing compensation to the bereaved families. "The apathy of the government officials has only compounded the woes of the poor, bereaved families of the victims. It is a pity that the compensation has not reached the affected families even after the government made the announcement in January," he said.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate Paramdeep Singh after finding the mistakes had informed Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Basant Garg, who forwarded the same to the finance commissioner of the revenue department, the sources said. The department, however, has not bothered to give directives to the authorities concerned, they claimed.
"The compensation money could not be distributed due to the wrong addresses. We will distribute the same after we receive directives from the finance department," Maud SDM said.
More than 4,800 farmers had committed suicide between 2000 and 2008 in Punjab. Most of these suicide cases were reported from Sangrur and Bhatinda districts. About a dozen farmers ended their lives between April and May this year. The farmers have been demanding loan waiver as they are already burdened by debt trap.
'Govt selective in awarding relief'
In April last year, the Punjab government had identified about 4,700 families and sanctioned Rs 96 crore as compensation for the kin of farmers who committed suicide. In the first instalment, the state handed out Rs 1 lakh to each aggrieved family. However, farmer organisations have accused Punjab's SAD-BJP government of being selective in awarding aid.
"According to an estimate, more than 30,000 farmers committed suicide between 1990 and 2012 but the government selected only 4,688 families," BKU general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri said.
"My husband committed suicide by drinking a poisonous chemical in 2000. Nobody came forward to provide any financial assistance to me after his death," Baljit Kaur, widow of a Bhagwant Singh and a resident of Chhajli village, said.