(Asks CM to step out of his farm houses besides deputing officers to mandis)
(Farmers complain they are camping in mandis since one week due to lack of gunny bags. Wheat crop not being lifted also)
Moga/Chamkaur Singh Machhike – Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today held chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh directly responsible for the total chaos in ‘mandis’ in the State saying farmers were forced to camp in miserable conditions at procurement centers due to the State’s inability to arrange gunny bags to store the incoming wheat crop.
The SAD President, who visited Goniana Mandi, Goniana Kalan, Maluka, Kotha Guru and Bhagta Bhaike mandis in Bathinda district and the Moga Mandi, requested the entire SAD rank and file to fan out in procurement centers to assist the farmers to get their crop procured. He simultaneously announced that the party would hold symbolic district level ‘dharnas’ across the State on April 24 in front of the offices of the Deputy Commissioner to submit a memorandum demanding the problems being faced by farmers in ‘mandis’ be resolved immediately.
Asking the chief minister to step out of his farm house and address the problems being faced by farmers, Mr Sukhbir Badal said the chief minister should also direct senior officers to visit all ‘mandis’ and removed shortcomings which were resulting in extremely slow procurement of wheat. “Farmers have told me that they are camping in ‘mandis’ for more than one week to await procurement of their produce. As much as 45 lakh metric tonnes of wheat is lying in the open in mandis and not being lifted due to lack of gunny bags. Food and Civil Supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu has gone into hiding as he knows he cannot face the farmers after failing to issue timely tenders for gunny bags. Punjab was also pipped by Haryana in placing of orders for used gunny bags”.
Mr Badal said farmers and ‘arhatiyas’ had conveyed to him that they were now being asked to arrange for gunny bags on their own. He said this was not all. Farmers were also being receiving timely payments for the produce which had been procured. “No effort is being made to create an alternative system of payment”. He said the government was claiming it had made a payment of Rs 6,000 crore to farmers when the actual payment was only Rs 3,400 crore. He said in direct contrast the Haryana government had done a payment of Rs 24,000 crore”.
Mr Badal said farmers were suffering because the government did not make advance preparations. He said former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal used to prepare for the wheat and paddy procurement seasons months in advance. “This government is least worried about the farmers or their suffering and is content in issuing fake releases about the purported measures taken by it which are not existent on the ground”.
The SAD President was accompanied by former minister Sikander Singh Maluka, Sarup Chand Singla and Parambans Romana at Bathinda and Makhan Brar and Tirath Singh Mahla at Moga. He also spoke to the Moga Deputy Commissioner and the Director, Food and Civil Supplies and asked them to take immediate remedial measures. EOM
Jangveer Singh
