79 days on, 3 state farm Bills await Punjab Governor’s consent

Tribune News Service

Moga, January 7

Seventy-nine days after the Punjab Vidhan Sabha unanimously passed three Bills to counter the Centre’s farm laws, Governor VP Singh Badnore is yet to forward them to the President for assent, thus creating confusion among the farming community and the traders on the status of the inter-state trade and the sale/purchase of the foodgrains.

Denying that the Punjab Government had implemented the Centre’s farm laws in the state, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu said: “The three state Bills are pending with the Governor … the Punjab Government will never abide by the central farm laws.”

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had already said the Punjab Government would explore legal options if the Governor does not grant his consent to the Bills.

On October 20, last year, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha unanimously passed three Bills — The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment Bill, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services (Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2020; and The Essential Commodities (Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2020. These Bills were sent to the Governor for his consent, which hasn’t been given yet.

Stressing Punjab was the first state in the country to pass a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha against the central farm laws, Ashu said the state government would not allow the farmers and traders of other states to sell foodgrains in state.

Further, he assured that wheat and paddy would be purchased at MSP either by the government agencies or the private traders. The traditional practice of purchase of foodgrains through the commission agents would continue in the coming wheat procurement season, he said.