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Badal hits at Centre for its "indifferent attitude" to farmers
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today accused the UPA government in Centre of "indifferent attitude" towards farmers of Punjab, saying "despite having abundant money the government is in a habit of putting the entire onus on state to bail out farmers."
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today accused the UPA government in Centre of "indifferent attitude" towards farmers of Punjab, saying "despite having abundant money the government is in a habit of putting the entire onus on state to bail out farmers."
"I took up the matter of additional expenditure incurred by farmers of the state with the Centre which assured me to bear the expenses but unfortunately the commitment was not honoured," he told reporters here.
Lauding farmers for their work, he said despite drought like conditions in the state and shortage of water, the farmers did commendable job by using other resources, including running water pumps with tractors and other diesel engines, in ensuring that the state gets a bumper crop.
However, the Centre did not paid any heed to Punjab's request to adequately compensate the farmers, the Chief Minister alleged.
Badal said that despite adverse conditions, the paddy procurement in Punjab is likely to touch 142 lakh metric tonnes this season.
"Till date 30 lakh metric tonnes of paddy have arrived in various grain markets of the state," he added.
On recent apprehensions expressed by state Congress leaders on threat to them and the party office, he said that the state government was prepared to provide maximum security to the leaders. He, however, said that "getting security has become a status symbol."
