With paddy not being being lifted in Punjab attributable to protests by rice millers and BJP, Congress and AAP taking part in blame sport over tardy procurement, farmers within the state are on the receiving finish of mounting losses and are gazing a black Diwali this 12 months.
Whereas senior AAP leaders have blamed the BJP-led Centre for “meting step-motherly therapy to the state and launching a witch-hunt in opposition to farmers for having protested in opposition to the farm legal guidelines in 2020,” Union MoS Ravneet Singh Bittu mentioned that the AAP authorities didn’t verify the paddy varieties being sown by farmers.
Bittu mentioned on Wednesday that millers instructed him that PR-126 was being cultivated for previous seven years. “However the state authorities created such a hype across the selection that the farmers picked up seeds of different hybrid varieties as a result of the seed of PR-126 was not obtainable. Now, the farmers are dealing with the issue. PR-126 and different hybrids have been brief period varieties which have been sown in potato belt in Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Kapurthala. All this got here out once we requested millers to talk the reality,” Bittu mentioned, including that the AAP authorities was liable for the chaos.
Nevertheless, quite a few Cupboard ministers in Punjab, together with Harpal Cheema, Aman Arora, Hardeep Singh Mundian, Lal Chand Kataruchak, Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, occasion MP Malwinder Singh Kang, Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, had echoed that the Centre was avenging the farmers protest of 2020 by “meting step-motherly therapy”.
Reiterating the Centre’s assurance, Union Meals Minister Prahlad Joshi had on Wednesday mentioned that the Authorities of India has offered a month-wise plan allocating most rail rakes to Punjab for expedited evacuation of current rice shares.
Punjab, which at the moment holds 130 lakh tonnes of rice, faces logistics hurdles because it goals to obtain 124 lakh tonnes within the present season.
“The best precedence has been given to Punjab and Haryana for evacuation of the inventory. Now we have given an in depth plan to the Punjab authorities on creation of area. …Highest variety of rakes have been offered…,” Joshi instructed reporters, addressing issues over procurement delays.
“The Centre has clearly with none ambiguity clarified to Punjab that we’ll buy the dedicated amount in time,” Joshi had mentioned, including that CM Bhagwant Mann had expressed satisfaction with the central authorities’s assurance.
Bittu’s assault and Joshi’s assurance was adopted by a press convention by senior BJP chief Harjeet Singh Grewal on Thursday who mentioned that the AAP authorities and a few farmer organisations are liable for the delay in lifting paddy from Punjab mandis.
Whereas addressing the media in Chandigarh, Grewal, who was accompanied by state media head Vineet Joshi, added that it was not the Centre’s fault.
The Punjab authorities’s delay in notifying the Fortified Rice Kernels Milling Coverage, from the same old November 15, 2023 to January 21, 2024, resulted in a two-and-a-half-month stall in rice milling. When there isn’t any rice what’s going to the Centre transport, Grewal requested.
He added that farm unions contributed to the delay by blocking railway companies twice —first in February after which once more in April-Could for 40 days this 12 months. “With a four-month delay due to the AAP authorities and one other two-month dely attributable to farm unions, how can the BJP authorities on the Centre be held accountable?” Grewal requested.
He added that the AAP-led Punjab authorities should instantly buy paddy from the mandis underneath Clause 14 of the Punjab Customized Milling Coverage 2023-24 to offer reduction to the farmers.
Grewal and Joshi alleged that the AAP authorities is intentionally stalling paddy procurement within the mandis to retaliate for its crushing defeat in 10 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. “If this isn’t true,” they requested, “why is the AAP authorities refusing to purchase paddy regardless of receiving Rs 43,000 crore from the Centre for its buy? Why is it not procuring the paddy underneath single custody,” they requested.
When requested Mazdoor sangharsh committee (KMSC) coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher mentioned that each the Centre and the state have ensured that they’ve a black Diwali this time. “Even when they kind the milling subject now, 50 per cent of our farmers have already bought their produce with a reduce to arhtiyas. They’ve refused to offer us full MSP. Even when they discover a resolution, farmers have already suffered losses. They’re by no means going to offer us this a reimbursement.”
He added that for the previous 24 days, ever for the reason that procurement began formally, neither of the governments have tried to discover a resolution. “This blame sport can be after an understanding. Has Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann or AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal given any assertion? Previously, successive CMs have gone to Delhi to discover a resolution at any time when an issue arose. However these folks didn’t attempt to do this. If they fight it actually, the answer will emerge,” Pandher mentioned, including that each Centre and AAP have been troubling the farmers.
Harmeet Singh Kadian of Bharti Kisan Union (Kadian) additionally warned the federal government to contemplate that pageant was approaching and the farmers issues ought to be sorted. He mentioned that the farmers have been being “looted”within the mandis as they have been paying a reduce of Rs 8 to 10 per kg of paddy. He warned the federal government of a “legislation and order” state of affairs if the difficulty was not sorted instantly. He accused 92 MLAs of AAP for not elevating the difficulty on the proper time.
