A faction of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) on Saturday sought a CBI probe in pesticide scam and a higher compensation for farmers whose cotton crop was damaged in pest attack in Punjab.
BKU leaders, in a meeting here, said Bt cotton was introduced by Captain Amarinder Singh during his Government and in his tenure the farmers did not face any problem in selling their produce in the mandis.
“To save farmers of Punjab, we have to ensure and make all sincere efforts to make Amarinder Singh’s Government in 2017 so that Punjab can be saved. In the last eight years, the Akali-BJP government has virtually ruined all sectors of Punjab,” National President Bhupinder Singh Mann said.
In a memorandum sent to President Pranab Mukherjee, the BKU faction led by Mann demanded a CBI probe in pesticide scam.
They said almost the entire cotton crop was wiped out due to the supply of “spurious” pesticides purchased at high prices and without procedure due to “deep-rooted greed” and “corruption” of officials and politicians.
They also demanded that the farmers be compensated with Rs 40,000 per acre as their entire crop has been destroyed. “Compensation of Rs 100-150 is a big mockery of the already aggrieved farmers,” Mann said.