Chandigarh, Apr 16 (PTI) Opposition parties SAD and Congress on Thursday accused the AAP government in Punjab of failing to secure relaxation in moisture content specifications for wheat procurement from the Centre and claimed that crop was not being purchased in mandis because of this.
The leaders of both parties said farmers first suffered due to destruction of their crop with the unseasonal rain and hailstorms. Now, they are suffering because procurement agencies are not purchasing the wheat crop due to excess moisture, they alleged.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia said wheat growers are sitting under the open sky, struggling to sell wheat with no procurement, no arrangements and no response.
He said the Punjab government delayed in writing to the Centre for securing relaxation in specifications for wheat purchase while other states like Haryana and Rajasthan had already done so.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who visited Asia’s largest grain market here, said “It is shocking that the chief minister only woke up from his slumber after both Haryana and Rajasthan secured relaxation in moisture content norms after applying for the same immediately.” He claimed the state government only applied for relaxation in the norms recently due to which the farmers were suffering.
“First they suffered due to destruction of their crops due to rain and hailstorm. Now they are suffering because procurement agencies are not purchasing the wheat crop due to excess moisture,” he said.
Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring asked the AAP government whether the farmers of the state will be able to sell their wheat this year as procurement agencies are reluctant to purchase it for the reasons best known to them.
Warring said he had received reports from across the state that procurement agencies were reluctant to purchase the wheat for various excuses.
As a result, the majority of farmers are stuck in the mandis as they do not find any buyers for their produce, he said.
The Ludhiana MP said there are “some issues” with the wheat produce, due to the unseasonal rains.
“This is a normal thing and the state governments in the past have worked it out with the central government and sorted the issue,” he noted.
Accordingly, Warring added, procurement agencies are directed not to raise unnecessary objections.
He also said the neighbouring states of Haryana and Rajasthan had already got relaxations for the procurement on various specifications. PTI CHS PRK
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