Jakhar, Bajwa join in protest

Friday, 01/05/2015

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CHANDIGARH: Burying the hatchet, Congress Legislature Party leader Sunil Jakhar and state party chief Partap Singh Bajwa on Thursday came together for a sit-in outside Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s residence, along with party MLAs, for demanding immediate lifting of wheat from grain markets and release of payment to farmers.

Jakhar, who on Wednesday gave a call for the sit-in, was joined by Bajwa, who has announced a Rail Roko (train blockade) on May 2. The factionridden party put up a united front as the protest was attended by a majority of Congress MLAs.

However, CM Badal, who had cut short his trip to Delhi, tried to outwit the opposition by personally welcoming and meeting them at his residence. While Jakhar was addressing MLAs and mediapersons on the “mismanagement” of wheat procurement in the state, the CM defused the situation by joining the issue with them.

Badal acknowledged that unseasonal rains and hailstorm had caused extensive damage to the wheat crop, saying it was not appropriate to blame the state government for its “failure” on the procurement front. He said he was in constant touch with all union ministers concerned and, above all, the Prime Minister, to resolve the issue at the earliest and reiterated his firm commitment to lift every grain of the farmers’ yield. Badal said the entire procurement process would be completed at the earliest and the timely payment of the farmers’ produce would be ensured.

When Jakhar and Bajwa accused his government of the crisis, Badal preached them that the party should not “play politics” over the issue. “It is no time to demonstrate one-upmanship and gain brownie points by raking up the farmers’ issue just to gain cheap popularity in the media,” Badal told a combative Jakhar and Bajwa. The two later submitted a memorandum to Badal that accused the AkaliBJP regime of “pushing Punjab farmers and its entire agrarian class into an ignoble crisis”.

It said, “Instead of extending a helping hand to farmers, the CM, deputy CM and the cabinet ministers have shown no sensitivity to reach out to them in their hour of crisis. The procurement process in Punjab started on April 10 and the farmers are finding it difficult to sell their produce even after more than 10 days, exposing them to financial exploitation by intermediaries, who coerce them to sell their produce at a price lower than the MSP.”

The memorandum said the process of assessment of crop losses through administrative machinery is marred by red tape, adding that farmers are being harassed by revenue administrative structure comprising patwari and kanungo. The party demanded that all such farmers whose crop had been damaged be paid a compensation of Rs 20,000 per acre by the state government in addition to the Rs 4,880 per acre compensation under the state disaster relief fund.

The opposition also sought relief for farmers holding lesser than five acres of land from paying their household electricity bill for one year.