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‘Ensure cotton procured at MSP’: Sukhbir seeks PM’s intervention
In a statement here, the SAD president said it was shocking that instead of giving an MSP of ₹6,920 per quintal for long staple cotton as was done earlier, the CCI had imposed a quality cut of ₹150 and was giving an MSP of ₹6,770 per quintal to farmers.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and ensure that cotton was procured at appropriate minimum support price (MSP) in Punjab. He said he had received complaints from farmers that Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) had downgraded the MSP for cotton in Punjab and was procuring it in bits and spurts.
In a statement here, the SAD president said it was shocking that instead of giving an MSP of ₹6,920 per quintal for long staple cotton as was done earlier, the CCI had imposed a quality cut of ₹150 and was giving an MSP of ₹6,770 per quintal to farmers.
He said farmers in the Abohar belt were suffering because the CCI was procuring the produce in bits and spurts. He said procurement was stopped on November 30 and restarted on December 7. It was again stalled on December 9 and was now likely to be restarted on December 12.
Sukhbir Badal said the repeated stoppage of procurement was forcing farmers to sell their produce to private players who were purchasing the produce in the price range of ₹5,000 to ₹5,200 per quintal. He said farmers were forced to go in for distress sale as they could neither transport their produce to far places nor store it. He said of nearly 3.5 lakh quintals of cotton, which had been procured in the state, the CCI had procured only one lakh quintals.
Urging the Prime Minister to issue necessary instructions to ensure uninterrupted and smooth procurement of cotton, he also appealed that farmers be given an MSP of ₹6,920 and that arrears be paid to farmers who had sold their produce at ₹6,770 to CCI.
