Ahead of cabinet announcement later in the afternoon, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Sunday visited the Kartar Singh Wala village of Bathinda to take stock of the cotton crop destroyed due to pink bollworm infestation.
Channi was accompanied by Deputy CM Sukhjinder Randhawa.
"Directed the officials to ensure that our farmers' crops are not damaged at any cost. Farmers are Punjab's backbone and we will provide them all the necessary support," the CM tweeted.
"Punjab government is a simple government. Our first step would be to treat the problem, and for that, we will spray insecticides for free," Channi said.
Channi, during his visit, hugged a farmer and said that the compensation would reach the farmers directly and 'unlike older government', no middle man, no policy would get a share of it.
Giving detail about the initial steps of the Punjab government to tackle the problem, Randhawa said that 500 insecticide kits have been given by the Punjab government to prevent pink bollworm attacks on cotton crops. "These will be sprayed on 5,000 acres of land today itself," he said.
Channi and Randhawa also visited the house of deceased farm labourer Sukhpal Singh at village Mandi Kalan and handed an appointment letter to his elder brother Natha Singh. They also had lunch with him.
"Handed over job appointment letter to Natha Singh, elder brother of deceased farm labourer Sukhpal Singh at village Mandi Kalan and directed the district officials to provide all the necessary help to the family for construction of their house," the CM tweeted.
Punjab cabinet expansion will be held today at 4:30 pm at Raj Bhawan.
( With inputs from ANI )
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