Congress blames Punjab govt for farmers' plight

Opposition Congress today staged a walkout from Punjab Assembly on the issue of farmers' plight, saying that the government has no "moral right" to continue in power and also sought the resignation of agriculture minister.
Congress members staged the walkout after Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal refused to accept their demand of not allowing Agriculture Minister Tota Singh to speak on the floor of the House following which he suspended the debate till tomorrow.
Earlier, Punjab Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Mohan Mittal presented the official resolution to discuss farm crisis in the state.
Speaking on problems being faced by farmers, Leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar accused the SAD-BJP alliance of ignoring the farm crisis and raised concern over the problems being faced by farmers.

Raising the issue of paddy growers, Jakhar asked the state government if the Centre has approved cash credit limit for the state to pay to farmers for purchasing paddy from next month.
Claiming that no "Acche Din" have come for farmers, Jakhar said Basmati growers will face massive loss of Rs 10000 crore as the prices of the crop crashed to Rs 1100-1300 per quintal as against Rs 3800 per quintal under UPA regime in 2013.

About 4 crore quintals of basmati is expected to arrive this season and by current rates, growers will get Rs 5000 crore only, he said.

He also raised the issue of sugarcane growers whose outstanding dues are yet to be cleared and also questioned the state government's crop diversification plan.
Jakhar described the massive damage caused by Whitefly to the cotton crop as a man-made calamity and hit out at agriculture department, Vice Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University and an agro-chemical company for the cotton crisis.
He accused the government of buying insecticide of a particular company without following norms and also alleged that it was a scam as the insecticide was bought at much higher rate than the prevailing market rate.
The Congress leader alleged that it was not even tested in Punjab before being distributed to cotton growers and claimed that as against price of Rs 3150 per litre in market, the insecticide was bought at rate of Rs 3556.80 per litre.

He also took a jibe at Punjab government for not being able to get a package from NDA led Centre and said he would move Punjab and Haryana High Court to raise the issue of cotton farmers.
"Agriculture Minister should resign. Moreover this government has no moral right to continue," Jakhar demanded.