Chandigarh, Oct 12 — Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) President Pargat Singh on Monday launched a sharp attack on the state government over difficulties faced by farmers due to rainfall and inadequate arrangements for the protection of paddy crops in procurement centres.
He said farmers bring their produce to mandis after six months of hard work, heavy expenditure and numerous hardships, only to find their crops being damaged because of a lack of essential facilities.
He described the situation as a serious failure of the government. Pargat Singh said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who repeatedly promises to procure every single grain, has failed to provide farmers with the necessary facilities in mandis. Even payments for procured crops are not being made to farmers on time. Farmers are being forced to struggle for the protection, procurement and timely payment of their produce.
Taking a dig at the Central government, legislator Pargat Singh said Punjab’s mandi procurement system had developed into a strong mechanism for procuring farmers’ produce and ensuring its movement to the market.
However, the policies of the Central government have left no stone unturned in weakening this system.
“Now, the Aam Aadmi Party, which he described as the BJP’s B-team, is also working to weaken Punjab’s mandi system,” he said in a statement.
He alleged that despite its claims of strengthening the state’s procurement infrastructure, the AAP government has failed to ensure adequate arrangements for crop protection, timely procurement, lifting and storage in mandis.
The government, which claims to oppose the Centre’s policies, must explain why advance arrangements were not made to protect farmers’ produce and ensure its timely procurement and lifting.
“The state government cannot evade its administrative responsibility by blaming the weather alone for the hardships faced by farmers,” he said.
Pargat Singh appealed to all Congress district presidents, leaders and workers across the state to visit mandis in their respective areas, listen to farmers’ grievances and meet the officials concerned to pursue their resolution.
He urged Congress workers to assess the condition of crops, procurement operations, lifting, storage and other difficulties being faced by farmers, and to firmly raise these issues with the administration.