In a step to provide reprieve to the "debt-stressed" agrarian community in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today announced that a draft bill on 'Debt Determination and Settlement' will be presented during next session of the Assembly.
Presiding over a high level meeting with the representatives of 12 farmers and farm labour unions here, the Chief Minister said that "this legislation would go a long way in providing much needed reprieve to the debt-stressed peasantry by regulating the system of private money lending."
Taking part in the deliberations, the Chief Minister assured the members of the delegation that the Punjab government had already taken up the matter of procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Public Stock holding of food grains for food security of the nation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Besides, Badal said he had also taken up the matter with Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to seek Centre's support for taking up these concerns during the ongoing 10th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference at Nairobi (Kenya) so as to safeguard the interests of small and resource poor farmers of the country, especially Punjab.
The Chief Minister also asked the Financial Commissioner Cooperation to take up the issue of conversion of loans advanced to the farmers from Cooperative Banks with NABARD to make them affordable in order to reduce the interest burden on account of its conversion from short to medium term loans.
Badal assured to compensate the farmers for the loss of crops due to natural calamities, pointing out the state government was pro-actively pursuing the case of plot based crop insurance with the Centre for its prompt implementation, whereas now only relief in terms of input purchase was provided under 'Disaster Management Act, 2005'.
Regarding the enactment of Punjab Prevention of Damage to Public & Private Property Bill, 2014, to which varios farmers unions have voiced their strong resentment, Badal told the delegation that state government would only proceed further after having detailed consultations with their representatives.
He also directed the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to interact with these representatives designated by the unions of the farmers and farm laborers in this regard.
Expressing deep concern over rise in the cases of farm suicides, the Chief Minister asked the Revenue department to open a special cell to process the cases for disbursing compensation in a fast track mode, to the next of the kin of the farmers who ended their lives in distress.
On the issue of disbursement of compensation to the cotton
pickers in the cotton belt affected by white fly attack, Chief Minister Badal informed that Revenue Department had already sanctioned and released Rs 64 crore for this purpose to the concerned districts.
Badal said the only problem which has caused delay in disbursement of relief to the farm labourers was their proper identification for which he asked the Additional Chief Secretary Revenue to immediately issue instructions to the Deputy Commissioners to accomplish the complete the task of disbursement within in a month.
The Chief Minister also informed the delegation that after getting green signal from National Green Tribunal (NGT), the PSPCL has already issued a notification for new tubewell connections thereby reserving 75 per cent connections for the farmers holding land up to five acres.
He asked the Chairman PSPCL to initiate the process to release the tubewell connections shortly as per the policy guidelines.
Responding to another issue for immediate payment to the cane growers during the ongoing crushing season, the Chief Minister apprised the delegation that sugar mills would make regular payment to the farmers at Rs 295 per quintal, of which Rs 50 per quintal would be paid directly to the farmers by the state government and remaining Rs 245 per quintal by the sugarcane mills.
To ensure procurement of crops at remunerative MSP, the Chief Minister reiterated that he would soon take up with Centre to recommend MSP for alternate crops like Basmati and Maize.
He also said the state government had been constantly pleading with the Centre to implement Swaminathan Commission formula thus allowing the farmers to get MSP which should cover production costs plus 50 per cent.
To effectively combat the menace of stray dogs, especially in villages, the Chief Minister asked the departments of Rural Development and Panchayats and Animal Husbandry to jointly chalk out a time bound action plan.
Sukhbir said the Punjab Police was pulling out all stops
to eradicate the menace of drugs and was keeping a constant vigil along the international borders to prevent the inflow of drugs into the state.
As part of this, the police was taking strict action against unscrupulous elements indulging in drug trade and had put 75,399 persons behind bars from 2007-2014. This even included the "arrest of five BSF officials", he said.
In a comparison of action taken by Punjab vis-a-vis other states, Badal said, in 2012, a total of 10,220 FIRs were registered under NDPS Act in Punjab whereas this number was only 1,903 in Maharashtra and a mere 55 in Goa which is very infamous for its rave parties.
In 2013, Punjab Police registered 14,654 FIRs under NDPS Act whereas this number was 2,714 in Maharashtra and 50 with respect of Goa.
In terms of conviction rate under the NDPS Act also, Punjab scored a point over other states with 73 per cent convictions in 2012 whereas this figure was only 32 per cent in respect of Maharashtra and 20 per cent in Goa.
In 2013, the conviction percentage under NDPS Act was 80 per cent for Punjab and 54 per cent with respect to Goa and 18 per cent in Gujarat, he said.
Sukhbir said the commitment of Punjab towards ridding the state of the menace of drugs was evident from the fact that 29 per cent of national heroin seizures and 41 per cent of national opium seizures were affected in the state in 2013.
He said the inflow of drugs including poppy husk, opium, ganja, smack and heroin into Punjab was either through the international border or from neighbouring states that produced the drugs legally.
"No drug is produced in Punjab. In fact, they are produced in Pakistan and Afghanistan and are transited through Punjab and the responsibility of stopping their smuggling lies with central agencies," he claimed.
"This underlines the importance of having a second line of defence including deployment of a commando unit to stop seepage of drugs into the country," he said.
