Punjab Cabinet Approves 10% Crop Loss Compensation For Farm Labourers

Farm labourers in the state will now receive 10% of the total compensation for crop loss due to natural calamities, said Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, after holding the first Cabinet meeting under his government’s ‘Sarkar Tuhade Dwar’ programme on Friday.

The decision was taken considering the problems farm workers faced, who lose both work and income when unseasonal rain or hailstorm ruin crops, he highlighted, adding it is a gift to the working class ahead of the Labour Day on May 1.

For example, if a farmer gets compensated with Rs 15,000 per acre, the labourers who were to work in the fields but could not as the crop got damaged by natural calamities will also be given Rs 1,500, Mann said.

Further elaborating on the crop loss compensation, the chief minister said his government will soon begin a drive to register labourers on the spot in an effort to help them grab benefits of various schemes sponsored by the state and the Centre.

The Cabinet meeting was held at the Circuit House in Ludhiana, roughly 100 km from Chandigarh. Mann said the majority of cabinet meetings will now be held outside Chandigarh to help ministers and officials address people’s grievances on the spot.

The meetings will now be held in places like Hoshiarpur, Mansa, and even in large villages, he said at a press conference, adding the government representatives will spend a day at the place where the meeting is held.

The Cabinet also gave its consent for sending the plea of six life convicts confined in the state jails, seeking premature release, to the Governor for consideration and approval, an official statement read.