Wheat growers of Punjab and Haryana are unhappy with the Centre's decision to hike MSP for wheat by just Rs 50 for the 2014-15 season, saying the new prices were "grossly inadequate" to meet even the input cost.
Rejecting the hike, farmers questioned the intentions of the central government on the issue of giving remunerative prices to farmers for food grain crop.
"The hike of just Rs 50 per quintal in wheat MSP was completely inadequate and it is not going to even compensate farmers' input cost," Bhartiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) President Balbir Singh Rajewal said here today.
The Centre had yesterday raised the minimum support price for wheat by a nominal Rs 50 to 1,450 a quintal to encourage farmers to cover more area under the crop in the ongoing rabi season.
Rajewal accused the BJP-led Centre of failing in honouring its promise of implementing Swaminathan Commission report during the Lok Sabha polls.
"Farmers were promised by the BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls that it will implement Swaminathan Commission report which ensures 50 per cent profit over and above the input cost to farmers. But after coming to power, the BJP did nothing on MSP issue rather it adopted anti-farmer stance by giving meager hike in food grain prices," he alleged.
Farmers demanded that the Centre should have raised the MSP by at least Rs 100 per quintal which could have at least helped them meeting the cost of production to some extent.
"At least Rs 100 per quintal hike was needed in wheat MSP," demanded V K Kapoor, a progressive farmer based at Karnal in Haryana.
Farmers particularly in Punjab and Haryana were upset over low hike in MSP in the wake of no compensation having announced by the Centre so far first for drought like conditions in Kharif season and then untimely rains hitting paddy crop at the time of harvesting.
"The Centre should also have announced some bonus on paddy to compensate losses they had suffered during kharif season," said Kapoor.
Meanwhile, Akali MP Prem Singh Chandumajra sought from the Centre to change the mechanism for fixing minimum support price of food grain crop.
"Farmers' as well as states involvement is required for fixing the MSP," he said.
