Coming down heavily on Punjab Government and the Centre, Punjab Congress on Thursday demanded the release of Rs150 crore farmers’ dues, which was not released by the State Government since 2009 to date. Congress legislative Party (ClP) leader Sunil Jakhar reminded the SAD-BJP ruling Government that to compensate the farmers of drought-affected area, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had released the grant of Rs800 crore in 2009 and State Government had deposit this money in the accounts.
“Much after the protest by the farmers, State Government had only issued Rs300 crore to calm down the farmers, whereas the amount of Rs150 crore related to that amount is still pending and the State Government must release this grant to the farmers,” he demanded. Slamming the ruling Central and State Governments for their failure to protect the farmers’ rights, Jakhar also blamed them for “spoiling the present and future of the farmers by adopting anti-farmers policies”.
Raising the issue of relaxation of moisture content to all other States by the BJP-led Central Government, Jakhar slammed it for doing ‘injustice’ with the farmers of Punjab. Jakhar highlighted the same condition of farmers in 2013, when the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had directed the authorities to procure grain without cutting minimum support price. “But now, procurement agencies have not been paying complete MSP,” he said.