CHANDIGARH: The “tardy” paddy procurement crisis in the state has become a political minefield for the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab Government ahead of crucial by-elections to four assembly constituencies.
Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu today lashed out at the government over the paddy lifting, calling it “ineffective” and “immature” dispensation and said it led the state farmers to face hardships in grain markets.
Aam Aadmi Party MP Malvinder Singh Kang hit back at Bittu saying that now that the central government is failing to lift crops, Bittu suddenly remembers fake seeds.
Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu claimed that CM Bhagwant Mann in a meeting with the Union Food Minister had claimed that the state has space which is double the requirement of storing fresh crops.
“We will meet the Punjab Governor for his intervention in the matter.”
Rejecting the accusation of the ruling AAP, which blamed the Centre for not evacuating foodgrain stock from Punjab, he said irrespective of which political party was in Punjab, smooth foodgrain procurement took place and blamed the AAP regime for its complete failure in ensuring smooth crop purchase.
Bittu accused the AAP government of taking revenge on the people of Punjab for losing 10 of 13 Lok Sabha seats in the parliamentary elections.
Bittu said that the Centre has already given over Rs 44,000 crore to the Punjab government for crop purchase and added that it is ready to give more funds for crop procurement if the state government requires it.
“Why did not he go to any mandi? The entire Punjab is on roads and where is the CM? This is my first question to the AAP government,” he asked.
Referring to the sowing of hybrid varieties, Bittu said such varieties were sold at exorbitant rates of Rs 3,500 per kg and these varieties were affected by diseases, forcing farmers to spend on using pesticides. No agriculture university in Punjab gave any recognition to such varieties, he claimed.
On the evacuation of foodgrain stock, Bittu claimed that 187 rakes of wheat and 87 rakes of rice had been moved out of Punjab in one month alone.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Malvinder Singh Kang said’ “There is no issue with the seeds. If there were a problem with the seeds, how could the central government have issued a CCL for purchasing paddy? If there was a seed issue, the central government wouldn't release funds. He is just saying so to spread confusion and mislead the people.”
Kang said that the PR-126 seed was developed by Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) with consensus from all relevant institutions, including rice millers, and it was approved by the central government. Whenever PAU prepares a new seed, it does so with collective agreement. This seed has been sown in Punjab for seven years without any issues. Now, when the central government has failed to lift the crops, they talk about having the seeds tested by IIT Kanpur.
On the slow lifting of grain, Kang pointed “If the central government claims to have lifted 15 lakh metric tons of grain in October, why didn't it do so from January? If 15 lac metric tons had been lifted each month since January, by September there would have been enough space cleared for over 120 lakh metric tons of grain. Then this issue wouldn't exist. This clearly shows that the BJP government is deliberately causing slow lifting to ruin Punjab.”
Kang stated that the central government also held meetings with sheller owners but offered no solutions, sending everyone back disappointed.
The leader of the Opposition and senior Congress Partap Singh Bajwa also hit out at both the state and central governments.