Days after meeting Punjab’s farmers’ leaders, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday wrote a letter to the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh seeking necessary action upon the demands raised by 32 farmers’ unions at the meeting called by them.
Sidhu, in his letter, sought action on the farmers’ demands regarding cancellation of “unjust and unfair” FIRs against them on compassionate ground; fight against Centre’s demand of land record integration with food grain procurement; starting procurement of dals or oilseeds,
among others.
Maintaining that he has been continuously presenting his “vision” since September 2020, Sidhu also asked to invest in diversification with giving MSP on more crops; giving storage capacity in hands of farmers and strengthening farmer’s financial capabilities through cooperatives; and forward linkages to trade without dependence on the corporates.
Apprising the Chief Minister about the farmers’ demands, Sidhu said: “Firstly, they demand the cancellation of unjust and unfair FIRs registered against the farmer unions due to cases of
violence during the agitation in the State.”
“Congress Party has supported the farmers in every endeavour since the beginning of the agitation and our Government has facilitated the protesting farmers by providing maximum support to their protests against the three black laws and for the legalisation of MSP. Yet, some FIRs have been registered due to untoward incidents and the government could set up a mechanism to consider each case on compassionate grounds and cancel all unfair cases,” he said.
“Secondly, farmers fear the demand for land records – ‘Fard’, to demarcate details of land ownership before procurement as ordered by the Central Government is unjust, and I personally believe it is unfair and against large number of farmers who are sowing crops by taking land on lease, and due to ‘Sanjha Mushtarkha Khata’ with no clear land ownership as for decades
partition of land has not happened in many parts of our state,” he said.
Sidhu, in his letter, stated, “While many owners of land are now living abroad. This is also an attack on the resilient system of procurement by MSP through arthiyas and to push the farmers away from APMC mandis towards private markets where no such records are being demanded. Thus, I strongly feel that the Central Government is actually creating ‘One Nation, Two Markets’ with different rules for APMC and private markets. This injustice we must fight against!”
PPCC chief urged the Chief Minister to do much more for the farmers besides the work Punjab Congress has already done for agriculture.
“With Rs 7,181 crore to be spent on power subsidy for agriculture in one year, we have waived off Rs 5,810 crore of farmer loans since 2017 and most recently Rs 520 crore of loans of farm labour and landless farmers,” he said.
Noting the efficiency of government procurement done by the Congress Government, Sidhu called for doing more, “standing firmer on our resolution passed in Vidhan Sabha in October 2020. We should not let the three blacks be implemented in our state at any cost!”
“We must begin procurement of dals and oilseeds through State Corporations as MSP is announced upon them by CACP (Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices),” he said.
“Further, invest in diversification with giving MSP on more crops, giving storage capacity in hands of farmers and strengthening farmer’s financial capabilities through cooperatives and forward linkages to trade without dependence on Corporates,” he added.