Chandigarh: Punjab Congress president and Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Wednesday demanded that the Centre should bring the law to provide MSP guarantee to the farmers as was promised to them when they withdrew their 15-month-long strike against three farm laws.He also demanded Rs 50 crore to Rs 70 crore annual research grant for Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, to improve the research facilities for better agriculture.Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Warring also sought debt relief to the small and marginal farmers through one time settlement by waiving off their interest.“If the govt can waive off loans worth Rs 16 lakh crore of big industrialists, why it cannot provide debt relief to small and marginal farmers,” he asked.The Congress leader also urged the Govt of India to immediately provide Rs 1,600 crore to Punjab that was promised as flood relief to the state. He said not a single penny of this amount was provided to Punjab so far. Punjab is “being sandwiched in the fight between the BJP-ruled Centre and the AAP-led state govt”, he added.Warring said: “When the Centre knew that the AAP govt in Punjab had already misused the Rs 12,000 crore disaster relief fund, why did it withhold the flood relief? Why victimise people of Punjab for that?”Referring to three central agricultural laws, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already announced the suspension of these laws and demanded that these “should be completely withdrawn and not merely suspended”.He pointed out farmers braved all odds for 15 months for withdrawal of these laws and about 750 of them lost their lives. Warring demanded compensation for the deceased farmers and also sought withdrawal of FIRs registered against the farmers during that agitation.The Lok Sabha member also demanded a special Rs 50,000 corpus fund for diversification of agriculture in Punjab. He said Punjab should be divided into five different agriculture zones for cultivation of specific crops in those zones.Referring to the Kisan Samridhi Yojana under which the farmers are provided Rs 6000 relief a year, Warring said: “This amount is not even enough to get fodder for one animal.”On stubble burning, he said: “The Punjab farmers were being maligned and blamed for pollution even when the stubble burning was there for ages”. He demanded the withdrawal of the law against stubble burning, cancellation of FIRs based on satellite imagery, and Rs 5,000 per acre incentive for farmers to encourage them against stubble burning.MSID:: 129657019 413 |
