Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday announced that he would organise a rally in November and raise his voice in support of the farmers of Haryana and Punjab who were being uprooted from Gujarat.
Addressing a gathering of farmers who had called on him at his residence here to express their gratitude for the hike in the price of sugarcane, Hooda said that this rally reflecting the unity of the country and its strength, would raise a collective voice that they would not let these farmers' interests be adversely affected.
Taking a dig at Gujarat chief minister without naming him, Hooda said that it was not his habit to compare states in terms of development as he felt happy when any state made progress.
He said that in Haryana highest wages of `214 were paid to the labourers under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) whereas these were `184 in Punjab and `147 in Gujarat.
Hooda said that while the state government had decided to give highest ever sugarcane prices to the farmers -`301 per quintal for the early variety of sugarcane, `295 per quintal for mid-variety and `290 for late variety - the previous INLD-BJP government's tenure of six years the rate of sugarcane remained `110 per quintal.
However, when the elections were held in the year 2005, they fooled the farmers by increasing the sugarcane price by merely `7 per quintal, whereas the present government had so far increased the sugarcane price by `184 per quintal.
Hooda said that while the state government had decided to give highest ever sugarcane prices to the farmers -`301 per quintal for the early variety of sugarcane, `295 per quintal for mid-variety and `290 for late variety - the previous INLD-BJP government's tenure of six years the rate of sugarcane remained `110 per quintal.
However, when the elections were held in the year 2005, they fooled the farmers by increasing the sugarcane price by merely `7 per quintal, whereas the present government had so far increased the sugarcane price by `184 per quintal.
Hooda reiterated that he strongly advocated the cause of farmers who should be given 50 % profit over and above the cost of production. He said that the working group constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, under his chairmanship, had submitted his recommendations in this context to the central government.