CLP Leader Partap Singh Bajwa asks Punjab government to compensate farmers who sold moong crop below MSP

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 2

CLP Leader Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday said procurement of a lion’s share of 86 Moong crop by the private players below the minimum support price (MSP) has left the farming community cheated. He alleged that the maximum portion of the crop has been sold at price ranging between Rs 5000 – Rs 6500 per quintal against its MSP, which is Rs 7275.

This exposes the lack of experience of the present-day government. “Out of the total arrival of 4 lakh quintals of ‘Moong’ in the Mandis, 3.46 lakh quintals were sold below MSP to the private purchasers and only 48,000 quintals (merely ten percent) were purchased by the Punjab Government at the MSP rate”, said the CLP leader.

He said CM Mann must clarify to the farmers about the total amount of funds released by the government under its DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) scheme to those who had to sell their produce to the private players at a loss of Rs 1700 – Rs 2200 per quintal due to the lapses on the part of the government.

As per the information given by the nodal agency, MARKFED, Rs 66 crores were reserved under the ‘Gap Funding’ scheme.

“On July 3, 2022, the chief minister of Punjab assured the farmers to compensate for any loss due to the purchase of Moong at less than the MSP rate, with a capping of Rs 1000 per quintal. The nodal agency even disclosed that Rs 66 crore were reserved for the purpose. Therefore, the chief minister must come forward to reassure the farmer with the disclosure of the total amount released to the ‘Moong’ growers so far and also as to the corrective measures taken by the government so that the gains made due to the crop diversification could be preserved in future,” Bajwa added.

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