Demanding the scrapping of the system of auctioning of cattle fairs (pashu melas) in Punjab to the private contractors, AAP on Friday demanded that these be organised by the Department of Panchayats and Rural Development instead on the pattern of neighboring state Haryana.
Accusing the State Government of resorted to “open loot of dairy farmers” through private contractors since many years, party MlA from Kharar and State Party legislative Wing’s spokesperson Kanwar Sandhu asked why the farmers, rearing cattle heads, were being forced to pay heavy sums to the Government for every sale and purchase of animals when farm income is exempt from the tax.
Sandhu, accompanied by fellow party MlAs Kultar Sandhwa, Pirmal Singh, Meet Heyar and Amarjit Singh Sandoa, pointed that the next auction for the coming year is due on July 10 as the previous contract expired on June 30.
“Government had to postpone the auction thrice in the last few days due to varying pressures, including those from the contractors and farmers. This year, the reserve price for the auction of all cattle fairs in the state is Rs 72 crore. last year, auction bid had touched a whopping Rs 105 crore. This is open loot of the farmers,” Sandhu alleged.
He said that a total of 900 cattle fairs are organized in a year, about 75 every month, spreading across 19 districts in Punjab. In certain places, like Dao Majra near Kharar in Mohali district, four cattle fairs are held every month. “While the farmers in Punjab were being forced to pay on an average Rs 2,000 per animal sold or purchased, in Haryana, a farmer pays only Rs 60 per animal. In Haryana, the cattle fairs are organized by its own department,” he said.