Channi bats for `50,000 subsidy per farming FAMILY
Sunday, 21/02/2016
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=150419&boxid=57130&uid=&dat=2016-02-21
Mansa : Punjab Congress Legislature Party leader Charanjit Singh Channi on Saturday demanded that farmers to be subsidised at the rate of Rs 50,000 per farming household. Elaborating the issue he said this subsidy, in lieu of free power, should be transferred directly to their accounts rather than the state government making payment to the power corporation. “Currently a total of 10.53 lakh families are being given Rs 5,500 crore subsidy which if given in cash comes to Rs 50,000 per annum to every farmer family will benefit the farmer more financially and even the MSP rates would be higher than the present,” said Channi.
At the same time, he demanded that entire institutional and non-institutional loan of farmers and farm workers be written off by declaring the same as non-performing assets as was being done in case of big industrial sharks. Channi visited seven families of the farmers who committed suicides in the last two months of district Mansa covering three assembly constituencies Budhalda, Sardoolgarh and Mansa. He visited the families of late Gurmail Singh and Gurdeep singh in village Bodawal in Budhlada constituency. Then he also went to the families of late Resham Singh of village Khaara in Mansa constituency, late Amandeep singh in Sardoolgarh Constituency, late Gurpreet singh of village Bhaini Bhagha in Mansa, late Kala Singh in village Ralla and late Nachattar Singh in village joga both in Mansa.
Channi, listed the benefits of the scheme saying under the present system, the cost of power as input was not being considered by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices while computing minimum support price. Under the given situation, the free power being provided to rum to run tube wells was getting neutralised due to less than proportionate increase in the MSP for various crops, he mentioned. Channi said the alternative was to provide direct subsidy by transferring it to the accounts of the farmers for which the finer modalities should be worked out. He said the farmers would get benefit at two levels under this system. While they would get direct subsidy, the cost of running tube well would be included by the CACP while calculating the MSP.
