Visit paddy mandis, DCs directed ensure smooth paddy purchases

JALANDHAR, Oct 12: Chief Minister P S Badal today directed the deputy commissioners in the state to personally visit mandis and give top ...

JALANDHAR, Oct 12: Chief Minister P S Badal today directed the deputy commissioners in the state to personally visit mandis and give top priority to ensuring smooth purchase of paddy.

Addressing a gathering at Barsi village near here this afternoon, Badal said no laxity at any level of the official machinery would be tolerated and strict action would be taken against the defaulting officials.

He asked the DCs to ensure that the farmers were not harassed and faced no inconvenience while selling their produce. Blaming the Congress for creating a “worst” work culture in the State during its rule, Badal said that the Congress leadership had ruined the agriculture economy through its “anti-farmer policies”.

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Badal said that the Planning Commission had constituted a high-level panel of members of the Commission and agriculture scientists from Punjab to suggest measures for improving economic conditions of the farming community.

Exhorting the farmers to adopt dairy, poultry and fish farming and bee keeping, Badal said agriculture alone had become non-viable to the farmers.

Phagwara: Meanwhile, Badal said he has pinned hopes on the three-member committee set up by the Central government to resolve the Udham Singh Nagar issue.

Badal, who is a member of the committee headed by Defence Minister George Fernandes, said no meeting of the committee had been convened so far. When asked if he was hopeful of a any positive outcome from the committee’s deliberations, the Chief Minister replied “hope sustains life”.

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In an informal talk with the mediapersons at the JCT Mills premises here, the CM said the ruling Akali party’s political affairs committee would meet at Chandigarh on October 14 to decide the candidate for the forthcoming Adampur assembly byelection.

Badal said Punjab was entitled to special concessions and facilities from the Centre by virtue of being a border state and the bread basket of the nation. Intensive cropping in the state has not only led to diminishing returns from agriculture but to decrease in the fertility of top soil as well, the water table has gone down alarmingly, he added.

The Chief Minister said the Planning Commission had agreed to pay a compensation at the rate of Rs 3,000 to farmers whose land had been rendered useless due to fencing along the border with Pakistan.

The state government would launch an extensive campaign to educate farmers on crop diversification, updating and innovation to make agriculture once again a remunerative field, he added.