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Jairam hits out at HP government for shutting down farm scheme
The leader of opposition emphasised that the government’s job is to strengthen any programme, and if there are any shortcomings in the schemes, they should be rectified
: Leader of opposition and former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday slammed the Congress government for closing down the ‘Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kissan Yojna’ (PK3Y), started by previous BJP government to promote natural farming.
In a statement issued here Thakur said that the Congress government was near to completing one year in office and chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is still playing politics of vengeance by shutting down the schemes started by the previous government.
“For the first time in history, a government is formed in the state which is shutting down the existing schemes instead of starting new ones,” he alleged.
The leader of opposition emphasised that the government’s job is to strengthen any program, and if there are any shortcomings in the schemes, they should be rectified.
He pointed out that at this time, the whole world is embracing natural farming, but the Himachal Pradesh government is discontinuing a scheme that promotes it. He mentioned that the success of natural farming scheme in Himachal has been commended by the central government multiple times.
Through this method, farmers use manures instead of chemical fertilisers which reduces input costs significantly. Natural farming not only benefits the health of the consumers but also fetches good prices in the market due to the high demand for such products.
He criticised the government for causing distress to the people of the state by discontinuing the natural farming program, which was highly popular among the people.
“Nearly 2 lakh or more farmers and horticulturist families have already adopted this method on their land, and it has been implemented in 99% of the panchayats in the state, covering more than 1,17,762 acres of land,” he said.
The goal of the scheme was to bring over 20,000 hectares of land under natural farming by the end of 2023, but the Congress government has decided to discontinue it, he said.
Thakur mentioned that ever since the Congress came to power, they have been on a campaign to shut down the work done by our government.
“They have closed over a thousand institutions dedicated to public welfare, and more than ten thousand people have lost their jobs. To provide relief, they raised the VAT on diesel instead of lowering it, leading to an increase in diesel prices by almost eight rupees in two instances,” Thakur said.
The Congress government has not achieved any significant milestones or achievements to showcase to the people in nearly a year of their tenure, he added.
