Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, Shiromani Akali Dal General Secretary and Anandpur Sahib MP Prof. Prem Singh Chandumajra today stressed the need to turn agriculture into remunerative venture to check increasing incidence of suicides by the farmers and fix minimum support prices as per the recommendations of the MS Swaminathan committee.
Participating in the discussion in the Lok Sabha today, he proposed that more crops should be brought under MSP system while introducing crop insurance and providing adequate compensation to the farmers to crop damage due to natural calamities.
Prof. Chandumajra called up the government to re-start production in the fertilizer factories in the public sector lying closed while increasing the capacity of the others to ensure adequate availability of fertilizers to the farmers at lower rates. Fertilizer was being imported presently on a large scale for which the farmers had to pay much higher price. He said six fertilizer units including the ones at Bokaro and Sindri in the public sector were lying closed. The Make inindia slogan given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi must be implemented in letter and spirit. He pointed out that the NFL unit at Nangal in Punjab which earlier had the capacity to produce 8 lakh metric tonnes per annum was now producing just about 5 lakh tonnes. The unit was being kept idle for about two months every year.
He demanded that the production capacity of the Nangal unit should be increased to at least 17 lakh metric tonnes.
He also raised the issue of damage to the crops by wild animals and demanded that the farmers be extended 50 per cent subsidy for fencing of the fields in the affected areas. Check dams should be constructed in the sub-montane areas to conserve water which was presently being wasted.
