Chandigarh, April 16
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring today asked the Aam Aadmi Party government whether the farmers of the state will be able to sell their wheat this year as procurement agencies are reluctant to purchase it for the reasons best known to them.
Warring disclosed that he had received reports from across the state that the procurement agencies were reluctant to purchase the wheat for various excuses. With the result, the majority of farmers are stuck in the ‘mandis’ (grain markets) as they don’t find any buyers for their produce.
The PCC president noted that there are some issues with the wheat produce, due to the unseasonal rains. He said, this is a normal thing and the state governments in the past have worked it out with the central government and sorted the issue. Accordingly, he added, procurement agencies are directed not to raise unnecessary objections.
Warring disclosed that the neighbouring states of Haryana and Rajasthan had already got concessions about the procurement on various specifications. He said, since there was nobody in Punjab to take up the matter with the central government, there was no direction to the agencies to be relax about the specifications. With the result, he added, the farmers are finding it difficult to sell their produce and are stuck in ‘mandis’ for days together.
The PCC president disclosed that while the central agencies were delaying the procurement over certain specification norms, the state agencies are also reluctant to purchase the wheat, as there is no adequate space to store the wheat. He said, this reflected yet another failure on part of the AAP government in ensuring advance and timely preparations for the procurement. He said, this is a standard practice and procedure and failure to do it only reflects the gross and criminal negligence by those responsible for doing it.
Warring recalled that during the Congress regimes, farmers never needed to wait for more than 24 hours to sell off their wheat and paddy and receive the payment and the farmers do remember it. This, he said, was only possible after due diligence and due preparations were done well in advance, which the AAP government completely lags in doing.
