CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said his party on returning to power would repeal both the agri laws brought by the central and Punjab governments and instead declare the entire state as a Principal Market Area.
“(CM) Amarinder Singh has played a fraud on the farmers. He first thrust the Bill on us just minutes ahead giving no time for studying the Bills just as he had done with the water Bill in 2004 which has brought no result for Punjab,” Sukhbir said after presiding over the party’s core committee’s meeting.
“Also, the Bills on agriculture totally contradicted the resolution which we had passed.”
The Punjab Assembly on Tuesday had adopted a resolution rejecting the Centre’s new farm laws and passed four Bills.
The resolution had rejected Modi’s anti-farmer Acts and also sought declaration of Punjab as principal market area, he said. It also sought rejection of the APMC Act 2017.
“But the Bills which Amarinder introduced had none of these provisions.”
He also said that the farmers demanded that the government must ensure that the farmers produce is procured at Minimum Support Price for all the 22 crops for which the Centre annually declares MSP.
“We have been demanding that the assured marketing at MSP regime must not only continue but also be expanded to cover all the 22 listed crops. When SAD forms a government, we will ensure that this demand is converted into an achievement.” The party is willing to do anything for the farmers because they are the backbone of Punjab’s economy, he added.
The opposition members were shocked to see how the Chief Minister had tricked Punjab by betraying the unanimous resolution passed by the Vidhan Sabha, he said.
“The resolution had outrightly rejected the Centre’s anti-farmer Acts and committed the state to declaring Punjab a Principal Market Area. It had also rejected the APMC Act 2017 which is a photocopy of Modi’s anti-farmer Acts.”