Blaming the Punjab Government for “tardy” procurement operations, former Finance Minister and People’s Party of Punjab chief, Manpreet Badal, on Sunday called for immediate steps to end the farmers’ harassment in the State mandis. Besides, he also demanded adequate compensation for the crop damage due to inclement weather.
“Despite Government’s good intentions, the fact of the matter is that the farmers continue to face unnecessary harassment in the mandis and they have to wait for days on end to sell their produce, all this for no fault of theirs. The farmers can’t be penalised for natural calamities.
The State Government must step in to compensate the farmers for procurement at below minimum support price. Alternately, the amount of bonus should be hiked to at least Rs200 per quintal on wheat,” he said.
He said the Parkash Singh Badal-led State Government should not face much of a problem now as his party was part of the Government at the Centre. “All issues concerning procurement should have been resolved by now as Punjab continued to be the biggest contributor to the central pool. The State Government could not take refuge in any other argument,” he added.