Capt asks Badal to spell out measures for paddy procurement
Friday, 11/09/2015
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RAYYA (AMRITSAR): Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh asked chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to spell out the measures that he plans to take for procurement of paddy that will start arriving in the mandis from the next month.
Senior Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh being honoured by party leaders during a public rally in Amritsar on Thursday.
“The paddy growers should be informed of the steps that the government will take to ensure hassle-free procurement. We do not want paddy to meet the same fate as wheat that remained in the mandis for weeks together,” he said while addressing a rally organised by former MLA and Baba Bakala halqa in-charge Ranjit Singh Chhajalwadi here on Thursday.
Amarinder also criticised deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal saying he was more interested in his private business than governance. “Sukhbir is more interested in his personal business than the business of governance,” he claimed.
Amarinder said that with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) having decided not to purchase paddy in Punjab, the situation appeared to be grim since the state government did not seem to be in a position to make payment to the farmers. He said the state government owed over Rs 1,500 crore to the arhtiyas. With its coffers empty there appeared to be no hope for the farmers this paddy season, he added.
Lashing out at the Akalis for patronising the drug trafficking that had devastated a generation of youth, Amarinder said the results into the investigations being jointly carried out by Punjab Police and other central agencies like the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Narcotics Control Bureau were likely to come out soon. People are hoping that those behind the drug trade would be exposed and marked for punishment, he said.
