Congress today demanded the SAD- BJP government to take up with the Centre the issue of non- clearance of Cash Credit Limit (CCL) for Punjab, saying any delay will force the farmers to wait for months to get the payment of their paddy crop as its procurement was due shortly.
"The paddy crop is due next week and the Centre has not yet cleared Cash Credit Limit for Punjab. Farmers will have to wait for months to get payments of their produce. But the Punjab government is so insensitive that it is not bothered about the plight of the peasants," senior Punjab Congress leader and party spokesman Sunil Jakhar told reporters here today.
Jakhar, who was accompanied by Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly, Charanjit Singh Channi, said "CM Badal should immediately take up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meet him and get the Cash Credit Limit cleared."
He also demanded the Punjab government to give details of the paddy stocks.
"If the government is so sure and pure, why is it not getting a physical verification done (of paddy stock). There is a huge scam. We want a CBI inquiry into this, we want physical verification of the godowns to start immediately," he said.
Jakhar said 3,232 vehicles were shown to be hired to transport foodgrain to the godowns, but the CAG could verify only 87 of these vehicles, of which 15 are two-wheelers.
He claimed that Congress had traced many of these vehicles, some of which were motorcycles.
"...How huge foodgrain stocks can be moved on motorcycles," said Jakhar, who along with Channi, arrived for Vidhan Sabha session today on a motorcycle.
"The motorcycle, I am riding today, is one such vehicle which the Akali government says that they lifted rice worth thousands of crore and transported it from mandis to godowns.
"Congress will put on display the motorcycles during our rallies in Punjab (ahead of the Assembly polls). We will expose their lie and highlight the scam in transportation of foodgrains on fake vehicles," he said.
Elaborating on his party's campaign, Amarinder said
Congress leaders will reach out to the farmers and get the forms filled by them.
A duplicate copy of the form will be with the farmer who could produce it to claim debt waiver once the Congress formed the government, he added.
Amarinder also said the party will reach out to each and every household in the state to get details of the employable family members to provide "one job per family". Those who fill the forms will be eligible to avail the benefits of the scheme, he added.
During his interactions with the locals, Amarinder blamed the Akali-BJP government in Punjab for the farmers' plight, adding that even as he went around the 'mandis', he could see that they were being forced to sell their produces for Rs 200-300 less than the minimum support price (MSP).
The state Congress chief also went across the Ravi river to meet the villagers of Ghaniye Ke Bet, located at the Indo-Pak border.
The villagers listed their problems, including the delay in ownership rights of the land they have been cultivating since the 1960s and free tube well connections for the land across the barbed fence.
The land, they claimed, was allotted to them by the government with a promise that they will get ownership rights to it if they settled there.
Amarinder promised them the rights if the Congress formed the government in the state after the 2017 Assembly election.
