Capt asks state govt to pay Rs. 150 bonus per quintal to farmers
Friday, 27/06/2014
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SAYS PUNJAB GOVT HAD DECLARED PADDY BONUS WHEN HE WAS CHIEF MINISTER
AMRITSAR: Local parliamentarian Capt Amarinder Singh, Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, on Thursday asked the Punjab government to pay farmers Rs. 150 per quintal bonus on the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy, as Rs. 50 wouldn’t compensate them for the increase in the input costs.
At a press conference here, Amarinder referred to the below-par monsoon predicted this year. “If forced to use their own system of irrigation, farmers will accrue extra costs. The state government declared Rs. 150 paddy bonus per quintal when I was chief minister,” he said.
“The average cumulative increase in the MSP for paddy and wheat during the previous Congress regime at the Centre was about Rs. 70 a year, as opposed to Rs. 11 when the BJP ruled the country between 1998 and 2004,” Amarinder said in reply to a question, adding that the benefit had been raised at times by Rs. 150 per quintal.
“The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government increased the MSP of wheat by Rs. 710 and the MSP of paddy by Rs. 750 in 10 years, while in the six years of NDA rule, the figures got up by just Rs. 80 and Rs. 70, respectively.”
