Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CGPCC) President Bhupesh Baghel on Friday said that the Congress party will welcome the announcement of the State government to offer Rs 300 bonus per quintal of paddy crop to farmers if all the 38 lakh farmers of the State are benefited.
“The Chief Minister in a statement had declared to benefit only 13 lakh farmers but contradictorily an order of Additional Chief Secretary and Agriculture Production Commissioner Ajay Singh says that it would benefit all the farmers”, he said.
“If the order of the official was true which is benefitting all the 37.4 lakh farmers who produced and sold over 110 lakh tonnes of Kharif crop on support price in 2016-17, we would welcome the decision of the government. Even if only 13 lakh farmers are registered in societies, all the 37.4 lakh farmers would thus be under the perimeters of the orders,” Baghel said in a press conference held here on Friday.
The Chief Minister had earlier promised to purchase each and every grain of paddy from the farmers but now he has declared that only one third of the farmers, i.e. 13 lakh farmers, would be benefited with Rs 300 bonus amounting Rs 2100 crores, Baghel said.
However, the government order is just opposite to the declaration of the Chief Minister and is clear enough that it has not talked about the registered farmers, he added.