Govt not doing justice to farmers, says Bhattal
Sunday, 14/09/2014
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CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government was not serious about resolving the farmers’ issues, Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said here on Saturday.
Arguing that the state’s agrarian economy depended on the facilities offered to farmers, she said the Punjab government was instead robbing the cultivators of their rights. “The Punjab government has turned a stepmother to farmers. Its last Kisan Mela at PAU in Ludhiana was a big failure,” she added.
The fair slogan “Khalas sudre beej apnao, kharche ghatao, munafa vadhao (Adopt genuine seeds, reduce input cost, boost profit)” was misleading, said the Congress leader, adding: “Seeds are from neighbouring Haryana, and on the market, these are available for a cheaper price.”
In Punjab, in the absence of an MSP policy, farmers were unable to get best returns for their effort, said Bhattal, mentioning that their total loss in 2012-13 had been ` 61.54 crore, whereas it was ` 39.35 crore in 2013-14.
