Will confront PM in House over Punjab agrarian crisis, says Bajwa
Former Punjab Congress chief and Rajya Sabha member Partap Singh Bajwa will confront Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament on the recent report of the Controller and Auditor General of India pointing to embezzlement of foodgrains worth Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000 crores from Punjab godowns during the last nine years of SAD-BJP rule.
Former Punjab Congress chief and Rajya Sabha member Partap Singh Bajwa will confront Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament on the recent report of the Controller and Auditor General of India pointing to embezzlement of foodgrains worth Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000 crores from Punjab godowns during the last nine years of SAD-BJP rule.
“I will demand a concrete answer from Modi and also press for a CBI inquiry to ensure that those involved in the foodgrain scam are exposed,” Bajwa said while addressing a press conference here on Sunday before his departure for New Delhi for attending the Parliament session.
Alleging that the foodgrain mafia os operating under the patronage of some Akali and BJP leaders, Bajwa demanded a physical verification of the total food stock should be carried out. He claimed that when the CAG team sought the registration numbers of the trucks that were used for transporting the foodgrains (paddy and wheat) out of the godowns, it was revealed that numbers of scooters and motorcycles were provided.
Promises to raise farmers’ issues in RS
Bajwa said he will also highlight in the Rajya Sabha the problems being faced by farmers while selling their wheat in the ‘mandis’. Though the government claims that payments are being made on a regular basis to farmers for their produce, the reality is that growers are not being paid their dues in the stipulated time-frame, said.
Bajwa also lashed out at Food and Civil Supplies minister Adaish Partap Singh Kairon for “favouring” some transporters while allocating tenders for shifting wheat from grain markets to godowns.
‘Waive Punjab farmers’ loans’
Bajwa said the total agrarian sector debt in Punjab was around Rs 69,000 crore and the debt per farming household was Rs 5.5 lakh. The PM should consider the case of Punjab sympathetically and waive of loans of farmers, he added.
He said he will also urged the PM to get the Swaminathan report implemented so that farmers get a better price for their farm output.
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