Congress reiterates demand for drought relief but directly to farmers
Sunday, 05/08/2012
http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/congress-reiterates-demand-drought-relief-directly-farmers/54628
CHANDIGARH: The Congress today reiterated its demand for the central assistance to the drought hit farmers of the state. At the same time it said that the relief must be provided directly to the farmers.
In a letter written to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the Congress MPs from Punjab stated that the poor monsoons in the state had led to farmers’ incurring lot of additional costs on irrigating their paddy fields. This, they added, had necessitated the need for special relief to them.
Giving details here today, the Congress spokesperson and the Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari said, there should not be any cap on the aid, but it must be directly disbursed among the farmers by the Food Corporation of India at the time of procurement but not as a bonus.
“If the Chief Minister (Mr Parkash Singh Badal) is asking for Rs 2380 crores we are saying pay more than that, but pay it directly to the farmers”, he said.
Tewari pointed out that the past experiences had shown that whenever the centre provided aid to the Akali-BJP government in the state for relief to the drought hit farmers, the state government did not pay any money to the affected farmers but diverted it for other things.
Citing 2009 example, he said, the government of India provided Rs 800 crores as aid to the Punjab government for disbursing the same to the affected farmers. Instead of giving it to the farmers, the state government claimed that it was not for them but for the electricity subsidy.
Tewari said, the farmers had to agitate and stage dharnas to get the relief money. Even after that what government paid to the farmers, was not even the peanuts as some farmers got cheques worth Rs 50 and Rs 100 as compensation.
