Khaira demands compensation for moong growers

Khaira said he will soon be leading a delegation of farmers to meet Mann, hoping that the chief minister will fulfil his promise by compensating the affected farmers. “If the government fails to compensate farmers, we will be forced to launch an agitation on the outskirts of Chandigarh similar to the one held outside Delhi to get three controversial farm laws repealed,” he said

Chandigarh : All India Kisan Congress chairman and Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Tuesday urged chief minister Bhagwant Mann to compensate farmers who did not get minimum support price (MSP) for moong, which they had sown following his commitment and suffered huge losses due to distress sale.

Sukhpal Singh Khaira has urged chief minister Bhagwant Mann to compensate farmers who did not get minimum support price (MSP) for moong, which they had sown following his commitment and suffered huge losses due to distress sale.

Khaira said he will soon be leading a delegation of farmers to meet Mann, hoping that the chief minister will fulfil his promise by compensating the affected farmers. “If the government fails to compensate farmers, we will be forced to launch an agitation on the outskirts of Chandigarh similar to the one held outside Delhi to get three controversial farm laws repealed,” he said.

Based on information he collected from the Punjab Mandi Board, Khaira disclosed that after the CM promised MSP on moong to encourage farmers for diversification, they (the farmers) went for green gram cultivation leading to a production of 4,86,025 quintals. “The government only purchased 54,761 quintals, which comes to a mere 11%. With the result, 89% farmers went for distress sale, selling their crop at rates ranging from ₹3,000 and ₹5,000 per quintal,” he said in a statement, putting the average loss incurred by the farmers ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 per acre.

The Kisan Congress chairman said he and his party had told the chief minister at the time of budget that the amount of ₹66 crore allocated for MSP of moong was too small to make up for the entire crop. The farmers were left at the mercy of private buyers, he added.

Khaira also demanded compensation to the cotton and paddy growers who had suffered for different reasons. He said that while cotton growers had suffered huge losses due to spurious seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, the paddy growers had suffered due to floods caused by unseasonal rains in which there was hundred percent damage to crops at several places.