Channi lashes out at govt for delay in wheat procurement

Saturday, 23/04/2016

http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=155101&boxid=59841&uid=&dat=2016-04-23

Amritsar : Leader of Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi of Friday accused the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal responsible for the harassment to the farmers in grain markets.

Visiting Bhagta wala grain market and Rayya in Amritsar, Channi alleged: “The mess is creation of the SAD-BJP government in the state.”

Channi met the farmers as well the delegation of arhtiyas in the grain markets and listened to their woes. The Congress leaders then also held a symbolic dharna in the mandi and raised slogans against the government. Addressing media in Amritsar, Channi demanded independent inquiry into the delay of the payments to the farmers in the mandis. “The farmers are sitting for last four days and not even single penny has been given to them in-spite of the chief minister openly declaring the release of the cash credit limit by the RBI for smooth procurement,” he alleged.

Channi demanded the CBI inquiry into the alleged multi-crore food grains scam in which the funds were diverted and misused badly under the supervision of the Food and Civil Supplies Minister of the state.

The Congress will leave no stone unturned to fight for the cause of farmers on the streets of Punjab. Channi while blaming Badal claimed that on an average three farmers were committing suicide daily due to the wrong policies of the SAD-BJP government.

He reminded people of Punjab that during the Congress regime from 2002-07 the then Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh didn’t allow the farmers to sit for a day in the grain markets with their produce.

Lambasting on the Aam Aadmi Party for their false propaganda’s in Punjab, the Leader of Opposition said that AAP was just a bunch of inexperienced and visionless leadership.

Terming the AAP as a bunch of rejected leaders from the Akali Dal and Congress, Channi said the bunch could think nothing else than catching media attention.

`2,612 cr released for wheat procurement, tells Punjab govt
Chandigarh: Easing the anxiety of Punjab farmers, the state government on Friday released Rs 2,612 crore for payment for procured wheat during the current Rabi marketing season. Disclosing this, the state Food and Civil Supply Minister Adaish Pratap Singh Kairon said that all transactions were electronically documented and payments disbursed. The Minister also said that from Friday on wards, the transactions would be done regularly and the pending payments would also be cleared within two days.

Reviewing the ongoing procurement operations in the state, the Minister said that 66.55 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) of wheat had so far been procured in the state. Of the total, the government agencies procured 65.62 lakh MT while the private traders could procure 9.33 Lakh MT till Thursday. Reiterating his firm commitment over the swift wheat procurement, Kairon said that every single grain of the crop would be lifted during the current procurement operations across the state.