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Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today blamed the Government of India squarely for the distress of farmers in the state.
Talking to the media in Chandigarh, he said that the rising cost of diesel, fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides can be controlled only by the Union Government. The state, on its part, provided power subsidy to farmers but the escalating cost of other inputs made agriculture non-remunerative.
Badal added that the lack of post-harvest infrastructure also forced the farmers to sell their produce at a lower price. This again should be addressed by the Centre and more scientific storage capacities should be created.
Although the Shiromani Akali Dal is an alliance partner in the National Democratic Alliance at the centre and Badal’s daughter-in-Law Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a Member parliament from Bhatinda is a cabinet minister in Modi Government, the Punjab Chief Minister candidly said that the Swaminathan report should be implemented.
“In our meetings of the Chief Ministers in the capital, I have always raised the issues pertaining to languishing agriculture in Punjab and implementation of the Swaminathan report. We can only apprise the Union Government of our view point but cannot argue in the meetings. The GOI in the last one year has given fillip to the stalled projects in Punjab. The most important is the status of Heritage City to Amritsar”, he added.
He reckoned other announcements such as an IIM, a Horticulture University and restoration of Jallianwala Bagh among other developmental projects announced for the state by GOI.
He also urged the media not to indulge in sensational reporting and verify the facts before publishing.
