Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on Friday said that the rail blockade agitation by farmers' unions in the state has been “hijacked” by people with “narrow and vested political interests”.
“The present agitation launched by the farmers has been hijacked by the people with narrow and vested political interests and certain associations with leftist leanings are trying to gain political mileage out of the whole issue,” he said.
Punjab Government has been adopting a “practical and mature approach” to solve the current agrarian crisis which had occurred due to attack of whitefly on cotton crop, said Sukhbir.
He said that the state government has taken strict action against the persons responsible for the sale of spurious pesticides in this connection.
Former agriculture director Mangal Singh Sandhu had recently been arrested in connection with spurious pesticide scam in the state following hue and cry raised by farmers and the Opposition Congress.
He also demanded
the Central government to
set a ‘Basmati Trading Corporation’ so that Punjab farmers did not face any problem in selling the rice variety besides getting a profitable rate for the product.