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Badal's appeal to include farmers in obituary references

Staff Correspondent

Amarinder Singh did not attend the proceedings of the session

CHANDIGARH: While Chief Minister Amarinder Singh did not attend the proceedings on the first day of the monsoon session of the Punjab Assembly on Thursday, the Leader of the Opposition, Parkash Singh Badal, sought that as part of the obituary references, homage be paid also to farmers who had committed suicide owing to economic hardships.

Capt. Singh was reportedly indisposed as he complained of a pain in the chest after he had chaired a meeting of the Council of Ministers in the morning.

The resolution for obituary references was moved by the Deputy Chief Minister, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. In the official resolution, homage was paid to 14 eminent personalities who had died since the legislature's last session. They included former Union Minister and Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal, former Union Minister Suraj Bhan, BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, former legislator Sajida

Begum of the Malerkotla royal family, shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan and legendary Punjabi folk singer Surinder Kaur.

Speaking on the resolution, Mr. Badal appealed to the Speaker to include those numerous unknown farmers in the State who had committed suicide due to economic hardship, especially when agriculture had become a non-viable venture. He made a special reference to Balwant Singh, a 60-year-old farmer from Tarn Taran district who died due to heart failure while participating in a protest rally jointly organised by different organisations on Wednesday.

The leader of the BJP group, Tikshan Sud, while offering his condolences sought that homage be paid also to those who died in the recent blasts in Malegaon in Maharashtra.

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Badal's appeal to include farmers in obituary references

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