Powerless, Punjab farmers fume over long outages

Tribune News Service

Sukhmeet Bhasin
Bathinda, April 28

In the cotton belt of the state, farmers are upset as due to inadequate power supply, the cotton sowing is likely to be delayed.

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Farmers claimed that 6-10-hour-long power cuts were being imposed every day due to which they were facing problems in sowing cotton. The canal water supply to the Talwandi Sabo and Sangat Mandi areas is very low as these are located at the tail-end due to which farmers are dependent on tubewells.

Farm union leader Jasvir Singh claimed that cotton sowing had been recommended by the Agriculture Department between April 15 and May 15, but if the power supply remains the same, sowing might be delayed, affecting the yield.

Farmers claimed the heatwave was also affecting green fodder and vegetables.

Prolonged outages have also made paddy farmers tense. They feel if the power supply was inadequate now, the situation may worsen when paddy sowing starts.

Irked over power cuts, a number of villagers on Thursday entered the PSPCL office at Jeond to gherao power officials in Bathinda district. Seeing the situation slip out of hand, PSPCL employees restored supply to the agriculture sector to calm down the farmers. In Khokhar village, farmers burnt the effigy of the AAP government.

Gurwinder Singh, BKU (Ekta-Sidhupur) leader, said of the promised six-hour supply, the agriculture sector was getting only two hours.

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