Patron of Shiromani Akali Dal and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday said that the Union Government must hike the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of the wheat by Rs 500 and implement the decision with immediate effect. In a statement issued here, Badal said that even though the Rabi season 2014-15 has began but till now the Union government has not made any announcement regarding the MSP of the wheat crop and nor its leaders were bothered about it.
He said that this was a grave injustice with the farmers of the country, which would not be tolerated by the SAD at any cost. Badal suggested the Union Government that it should announce the MSP after duly taking up this matter immediately with the Election Commission of India (ECI), so that interests of crores of families depended on agriculture could be safeguarded. The chief minister said that none of the political party would oppose this decision, which would benefit millions of the farmers of the country. He said that it was unfortunate that the Union government was continuously hiking the cost of agriculture inputs but was least bothered towards providing a remunerative MSP to the farmers.