Chandigarh Jan 24 PTI A SAD delegation would meet President Ram Nath Kovind to seek immediate and effective personal intervention to secure the release of 1993 Delhi bomb last convict Devinder Pal Singh BhullarBhullar was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people and injuring of 31 in the blast Among those who survived the attack are former Youth Congress chief M S BittaHarcharan Singh Bains principal advisor to Shiromani Akali Dal SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday said the party has sought time from the president to request his immediate and effective intervention to secure the release of Bhullar he was quoted as saying in a party statement hereOn Sunday former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal too had sought Bhullars release in the larger interest of consolidating peace and communal harmony in PunjabIn a statement issued here Parkash Singh Badal had urged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not to allow a communal bias or political or electoral opportunism to dictate his decision and refusal to grant immediate clearance for Bhullars releaseBhullar was awarded the death penalty by a designated TADA court in August 2001 but his capital punishment was commuted to life sentence by the Supreme Court in 2014The Centre in September 2019 had recommended special remission to eight Sikh prisoners including Bhullar to mark the 500th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak DevIt has been alleged by some Sikh bodies that the Aam Aadmi Party AAP government in Delhi has not given its clearance for the release of BhullarA few days ago the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee had also accused the Delhi government of obstructing Bhullars release PTI SUN RHL

Chandigarh Jan 24 PTI Opposition Congress and INLD on Monday said incessant rains have damaged crops in Haryana and demanded that the state government compensate the affected farmersSeveral vegetable crops including potato have been completely destroyed Wheat and mustard farmers have also suffered due to this former Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Indian National Lok Dal INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala said in separate statementsTherefore the government should give compensation to the farmers by ordering a special girdawari revenue survey for the loss caused to farmers without any further delay Hooda who is Leader of the Opposition in Haryana assembly saidChautala also made a similar demandCrops of farmers have been severely damaged due to which they are facing financial lossthe government should immediately order a special girdawari and compensate farmers he saidHooda said farmers are facing the wrath of the weather continuously for the last several seasons and they have demanded compensation several times but neither the insurance companies nor the government has compensated them for the lossesIn the last season too more than five-and-a-half-lakh acres of crops were damaged due to excessive rain and waterlogging but till date farmers are waiting for the compensation he saidThe government neither gave compensation nor solved the problem of waterlogging Therefore farmers not only suffered loss of the previous crop but they could not sow this season too Hooda saidIn such a situation the government should announce double compensation for those farmers In addition to this the government should also take immediate action to drain out water from waterlogged areas the former chief minister saidHooda who is currently under home isolation after testing Covid positive a few days ago said he will be among the farmers as soon as he recoversI have been constantly getting complaints from farmers as they are bearing the brunt of the weather besides government apathy and mismanagement he saidEarlier they did not get DAP fertiliser due to government neglect now they are facing shortage of urea and sunflower seeds The government should improve its attitude and stop harassing the farmers he added PTI SUN RHL