Badal flays union ministers from Punjab

Badal also expressed the hope that something will come out from the meetings he had had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, demanding adequate compensation for Punjab.

"I have met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and also Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar who will be visiting Chandigarh on August 10. Punjab is the most deserving state as it feeds the nation with the maximum foodgrains it produces," Badal told reporters here today.

Badal said "central ministers who hail from Punjab have not taken up the state's case with the central government. They should have pleaded Punjab's case but they have not done so."

Punjab has been left out in the Rs 2,000-Cr relief package announced by the government to drought-hit states together with the grant of 50 per cent diesel subsidy to farmers to save their standing kharif crops in states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat.

To mitigate the impact of deficient rains, Pawar said "EGoM has decided to release Rs 1,440 crore to various states under integrated watershed programme for drought proofing."

Of which, Rs 501 crore will be provided to Maharashtra, Rs 424 crore to Rajasthan, Rs 320 crore to Gujarat and Rs 195 crore to Karnataka, he said. (MORE)