DW BUREAU / Chandigarh The opposition SAD on Tuesday urged the Punjab government to pay Rs 3,000 per acre to farmers as compensation for bearing the additional cost for paddy transplantation. A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting of the core committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) which was presided over by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal here. The core committee, the party's highest decision-making body, took into account the crisis in the farming sector due to unavailability of labour leading to doubling of paddy transplantation costs. It said in case the government did not step in and give compensation of Rs 3,000 per acre to all paddy growers, the agrarian crisis in the state would deepen. The core committee also demanded that the Congress-led state government pay the power, water and sewerage bills for the entire three months period of the lockdown from the proceeds of the state disaster management fund, a party release said. It said neither the common man nor the industry was in a position to take this load and the government should pay the three months dues to the state electricity and water utilities as a one-time measure. The meeting passed resolutions demanding from the state government to give a complete account of the alleged Rs 5,600 crore revenue loss incurred by the excise department and fix responsibility for the same. The opposition party also decided to bring all these issues to the notice of Governor V P Singh Badnore on June 11. The party said it would demand an inquiry into the alleged liquor, seed and ration scams. It also alleged that the state government was trying to bury the Rs 5,600 liquor scam and the Rs 4,000 crore seed scam by going after the "small fish" even as the kingpin roamed scot-free. The party demanded an inquiry to find out how a large part of the central food grain relief was reportedly diverted and never reached the beneficiaries, the release added. (editor@dailyworld.in)