Farmers Frustrated by Slow Procurement, Says LoP Partap Singh Bajwa

On Monday, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa claimed that farmers in the state were unhappy with the slow pace of procurement and insufficient compensation being provided for crop damage caused by the unseasonal rains and hailstorms.

Visiting the Goraya grain market along with Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary to take stock of the wheat procurement, Bajwa criticized the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for not doing enough to address the needs of farmers in the region. He said the harvest was lying in the grain markets and the delay in procurement was going to cause further losses to farmers.

He said the farmers were facing critical losses and the relief package announced by the AAP government was not adequate. He said, “The present relief package is inadequate and can’t cover the input costs of cultivation. Farmers are facing critical financial losses, and it is the government’s responsibility to provide them with sufficient compensation to at least recover their costs. I request CM Bhagwant Mann to give sufficient compensation to the farmers for crop failure and give a bonus along with the MSP of wheat.”

Bajwa also expressed his concern over the fairness of the crop damage evaluations conducted by the revenue department and said that the insufficient staffing of the Revenue Department is hindering fair evaluation of crop damage, and this needs to be addressed immediately.

Further, he stated that before the Assembly election last year, CM Mann had committed to providing Rs 20,000 per acre relief to farmers whose crops had been damaged, even without waiting for the girdawaris to evaluate the loss, but after one year of rule, he had announced a compensation of only Rs 15,000 per acre.

The government had not conducted the girdawaris in many areas and wherever it had done so, the inspections were not done properly, said MLA Chaudhary.