As the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday held an event to mark the centennial commemoration of the party in Punjab’s Moga, it announced to implement a ₹50,000 per acre crop insurance scheme and revive the pre-2004 pension scheme for the Government employees if the party was voted to power in the 2022 Assembly election.
Playing the regional card, former Chief Minister and party patron Parkash Singh Badal said, “The choice before the Punjabis is straight and simple. It’s one between having a government of the Punjabis, for the Punjabis and by the Punjabis or having puppets remote-controlled by outsiders.”
Mr. Badal said it was sad to see the Congress humiliating the poor and the Scheduled Caste sections of society by first letting it be known that the current Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was not their first choice.
Mr. Badal warned the Centre against “dangerous adventurism” of the past and said nothing should be done to disturb the peace and communal harmony in Punjab and outside.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal announced that farmers would be offered an insurance cover of ₹50,000 per acre for crop damage. He said the SAD-BSP alliance government would revive the pre-2004 pension scheme for Government employees. “We would end monopolies in sand and liquor business. We would also waive off electricity bills of all religious places of worship.”
