Amarinder to protest outside Badal's residence

Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said he will lead a protest of party leaders outside the official residence of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on August 21.

Amarinder Singh, in a statement here, said the protest outside the chief minister's residence would be to press for the long-pending payment to sugarcane growers and the delay in payment of compensation to farmers whose crops were damaged in unseasonal rain and floods in the state.

"The dharna will be attended by sitting and former MPs, MLAs, state and district presidents and other party leaders," said Amarinder Singh, a former chief minister and current Lok Sabha member from Amritsar.

He said the Badal government failed to pay compensation to farmers whose wheat crops were damaged, and sugarcane farmers in Punjab have not been paid for their produce since December last year.

"Ideally, the farmers should be getting payment for their produce within 15 days, but now eight months have passed but no payment has been made," he said.