Amarinder seeks adequate compensation for basmati growers, threatens stir
Monday, 21/09/2015
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CHANDIGARH: Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday asked the Akali-BJP government to provide adequate compensation to basmati growers who had to go in for distress sale of their produce.
In a statement here, Amarinder said if the government did not announce sufficient compensation for them, he would lead mass protests across the state.
He pointed out that last year the basmati sold for about Rs 3,200 per quintal, but this year the crop was not selling for more than Rs 1,200 per quintal. “This does not meet even the input costs of farmers,” he said, adding that the yield also remained less as compared to other varieties of paddy.
The senior Congress leader said he had been repeatedly reminding chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to take up the matter with the Centre. “However, he (Badal) returns after presenting a bouquet to the Prime Minister and without asking for anything for reasons best known to him,” he said.
Amarinder warned that in case the farmers did not get adequate remunerative price for their produce it would lead to a law-and-order problem in the state. He said the farmers were already on roads protesting peacefully and still the government was not waking up to their problem. “Better you take a serious note of the situation lest it should be too late for you,” he warned Badal.
