BKU criticises Centre over Electricity (Amendment) Bill, free trade deals

The monthly meeting of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) was held at the union’s head office in Ludhiana under the chairmanship of the union’s president, Harinder Singh Lakhowal.

Giving information about the meeting, Avtar Singh Mehlon said that the Electricity (Amendment) Bill and the free trade agreement being brought by the Union Government were completely against the country, especially the people of Punjab. By bringing the Bill on electricity, the government is going to completely hand over the electricity sector to private sector companies, they rued.

The union members voiced that the subsidy facility would have to be abolished under private companies. “The subsidy of 300 units available on motors and houses will be abolished and secondly, households and industrialists will be brought into the same category due to which the electricity unit will become expensive and the path to cheap electricity will be closed. New prepaid meters will be installed which will have to be recharged. If not done, the power will automatically be cut off. If the power supply is damaged, the entire cost will be borne by the consumer and the companies will loot this institution built with the people’s money on their own accord,” some members said.

Addressing the meeting, Parminder Singh said that the Centre had not yet released a special package for the flood-affected areas of Punjab. “Only announcements have been made, but no assistance has been received by the people at the ground level. Our demand is that the assistance amount should be increased and given to the farmers because the loss is huge. Farmers should be given Rs 70,000 per acre, there should a Rs 25 lakh cash compensation for the families of the deceased, Rs 10 lakh for collapsed houses, and Rs 1 lakh for dead farm animals,” he added.

The union further demanded that the government should make arrangements for fertilisers, seeds and medicines for the ensuing crop and that loan installments should be paid in advance.