Chandigarh, April 23 : Punjab's Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday criticised Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for his government's failure to provide compensation to farmers for crops damaged in the hailstorms.

"Before the Assembly elections in 2022, the Punjab Chief Minister used to propagate that the farmers would get compensation for their damaged crop even before the survey (girdwari) is conducted. Meanwhile, it has been around a week since the wheat crops in many areas of the state have been damaged due to hailstorms, but the farmers haven't been paid," he added.

The Congress leader said the farmers continued to protest against Agriculture Minister and AAP's Lok Sabha candidate from Bathinda, Gurmeet Singh Khuddian.

The farmers have also given the government a week to provide them with compensation and threatened to launch an agitation otherwise.

"When the state was suffering the worst-ever floods last year, CM Bhagwant Mann played with the emotions of farmers by giving them false hope. He said that farmers would get compensation for even the loss of their livestock," Bajwa said, adding that the farmers had not yet emerged from the trauma of floods and they suffered more losses due to a hailstorm.

"In its two-year regime, AAP has let down the farmers on several occasions. The time has arrived that the AAP will have to pay the price of its misdeeds," he added.

/IANS