Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, November 23: The Punjab Congress President, Mr Partap Singh Bajwa, today called upon the Chief Minister Mr Parkash Singh Badal to discard his mask and stop shedding crocodile tears for farmers.
Commenting upon his remarks that the minimum support prices should be fixed by the centre on the basis of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations which provide for at least 50 per cent profit to the growers over and above the cost of production, Mr Bajwa said he had been parroting this point ever since this report was submitted during the UPA government and he had sold the dream of getting the same implemented under the NDA government. He asked as to what excuse he had for not taking up this issue forcefully with his own government at the centre in which his own daughter-in-law Mrs Harsimrat Kaur Badal was the cabinet minister.
He said with the induction of Mrs Harsimrat Badal, the interests of the Badal family were served but the people continued to suffer as even after the change in the government, nothing perceptible had been done for this state. Not only that. Mr Badal had now stopped even visiting the union ministers while during the UPA government, his visits used to be too frequent, even to the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and he never returned empty handed, as evident from the letter written by the Finance Minister Mr Arun Jaitley to the state government while rejecting the demand for a special package.
Mr Bajwa reiterated that in case the Chief Minister was sincere to any of the issues concerning the people and the state, he should first convene an all-party meeting to evolve concensus on the issues to be taken up and then lead a deputation to the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi. “If Badal leads a Dharna in front of Modi’s residence on this issue which is very crucial for Punjab farmers and economy of Punjab, we will join him” he said.
He pointed out that with other states moving ahead on the farm front, Punjab might lose its importance as the food bowl of the country. The farmers in Punjab had themselves been doing experiments in diversification but it was the state government which had failed them by not ensuring marketing facilities for their produce. He said the cultivation of sugarcane was part of the diversification but the people had shifted from this crop due to the failure of the sugar mills in the cooperative sector while those in the private sector were thriving.
He said that Sh. Shanta Kumar has been assigned to restructure FCI. The Union Government actually wants to dismantle the FCI which will result in dismantling of the MSP system for foodgrains. This is will be the last nail in the coffin for Punjab Farmers who are already under immense stress due to low MSP and high input costs.
