SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal demands immediate resignation of Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann; Know Why

PTC News Desk: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today demanded Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s immediate resignation, stating, “The chief minister has failed farmers for the third time in a row by refusing to purchase their maize crop as per the minimum support price (MSP) despite promises to do so and is solely responsible for the total collapse of the farm economy in the State”.

He also demanded the AAP government compensate farmers for the losses suffered by them through the ‘Bhavantar’ scheme which was not being implemented in the State. “All farmers who have sold their maize, moong and sunflower crops at rates less than the stated MSP should be compensated immediately”.

In a statement here, the SAD president also accused the chief minister of duping farmers in the name of diversification. He said the chief minister had first encouraged farmers to grow moong, maize and sunflower and given a “guarantee” that the entire crops would be procured as per MSP. However when the time came to procure these crops, farmers were left to the mercy of private players and suffered huge losses. “The AAP government’s much hyped diversification plan is also in tatters due to the manner in which the chief minister reneged on this promise to procure these crops”, Sukhbir Badal added.

Speaking about the misery being afflicted on maize farmers currently, Badal said “out of 51 lakh quintal of Maize sold this year, only 114 quintal (0.002 per cent) has been purchased by government agencies. He said the total abandonment of farmers at the hands of the AAP government had resulted in a nose dive in the price of maize and resulted in huge losses to farmers.

Asking the government to step in and direct government agencies to start purchase of maize immediately, Badal also asked the chief minister to apologize to the farming community for duping them. He said the chief minister had not only cheated farmers but compounded the betrayal by deriving cheap publicity by hard selling the “initiative” through multi crore advertisements.

The SAD president said last year also out of the total of 45 lakh quintal of maize arriving in the mandis, as much 44.5 lakh quintal was purchased by private players much below the MSP. He said similarly, out of the 2.68 lakh quintal of Moong arriving in Mandi’s this year, 2.63 lakh quintal was purchased by private players.

Badal also demanded the government introduce MSP for vegetables, asserting farmers were being exploited by traders and were being forced to sell short. He also called for providing insurance cover to vegetable farmers as they often faced huge losses due to inclement weather.