Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
CHANDIGARH, August 21: Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh today led a dharna in front of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s house to press for the payment to the sugarcane farmers which has been overdue for eight months now. He was accompanied by the CLP leader Sunil Jakhar and 29 other MLAs besides several ex-MLAs and party leaders.
Addressing the dharna, Capt Amarinder said that the Chief Minister was running away from his responsibility towards the sugarcane farmers by not providing any bonus to them after fixing the State Approved Price (SAP) of sugarcane at Rs 295 per quintal against the central governments Fair Ruminative Price (FRP) of Rs 220 per quintal.
Explaining the issue, he said, Mr Badal had actually cheated the sugarcane farmers by announcing the SAP at Rs 295 without realising whether it can be paid to them or not. He said, after enhancing the FRP by Rs 75, his government should have come forward with bonus like the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Bihar. He said, Mr Badal had passed on the entire burden on to the sugar mills which have expressed their inability to pay this price as the sugar prices have fallen world over. “You took their votes by cheating them with fake promise of Rs 75 hike without making any arrangements for the payment to the farmers”, he told Mr Badal, adding, “with the result they are not getting any payments”.
Referring to Rs 90 crores released by the Badal government for the cooperative sugar mills, he remarked, “it was too little and too late”. He said, the nine cooperative sugar mills in Punjab were crushing only 30 percent sugarcane while 70 percent was crushed by the private millers. He said, by releasing Rs 90 crores of the pending Rs 180 crores, that too after he announced to hold dharna in front of his house, Badal had solved the problem of 15 per cent farmers only, while the fate of 85 percent farmers still hangs in balance.
Giving details of the other states, Capt Amarinder said, while in UP and Uttrakhand the SAP is Rs 280 per quintal, government provided Rs 28.60 subsidy to the farmers and in Bihar against the SAP of Rs 260 the farmers get Rs 22 per quintal subsidy. In Punjab, against the Rs 295 per quintal price, the state government has not been providing any subsidy to the farmers. He said, even in Haryana, the government has provided fifty per cent of the outstanding amount to the millers as soft loans to be paid to the sugarcane growers.
Capt Amarinder said, in order to save the sugarcane farming in Punjab it was important for the Punjab government to provide subsidy to the farmers on the pattern of other states like UP, Bihar and Uttrakhand. He warned, in case the government failed to provide subsidy to the farmers, the sugar mills will close down thus hitting about two lakh sugarcane growing farmers in the state.
Addressing the dharna, the CLP leader Sunil Jakhar wondered, if a BIMARU state like Bihar could provide Rs 22 per quintal subsidy to the sugarcane growers what stopped a state like Punjab to do that.
Among those present at the dharna included MLAs Sunil Jakhar, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Jagmohan Singh Kang, Ms Preneet Kaur, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Sukhjinder Randhawa, Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukh Sarkaria, Parminder Pinki, Ms Karan Kaur Brar, Ms Harchand Kaur, Amrik Singh Dhillon, Rajneesh Babbi, Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Ramanjit Singh Sikki, Ms Aruna Chaudhary, Gur Iqbal Kaur Brar, Joginder Panjgraian, Balbir Sidhu, Charanjit Channi, Tarlochan Soond, Gurcharan Singh Boparai, Navtej Cheema, Mohammad Sadiq, Hardayal Kambhoj, Ajaib Singh Bhatti and Gurkirat Kotli.
Punjab Youth Congress president Amarpreet Lali and Punjab NSUI president Iqbal Grewal were also present.
Others included Rana KP Singh, Tej Parkash, Gurpeet Kangar, Harmidner Jassi, Amarjit Samra, Jagbir Brar, Harinder Bhambri, Jagpal Singh Khangura, Sukhpal Bhullar, Dharmavir Agnihotri, Raman Behal, Madan Lal Jalalpur, Harminder Gill, Harpartap Ajnala, Darshan Brar, Satnam Kainth, Lali Majithia, Surjit Dhiman, Love Kumar Goldy, CD Kambhoj, Kikki Dhillon, Hardev Ladi, Harjinder Thekedar, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Charanji Lal Garg and Hira Sodhi.
