Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 6
Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday opposed the government’s decision to stop the purchase of wheat and other crops as it had earlier assured to continue the purchase till June 30. He said the farmers of the state need to be given more time to sell their crops, in line with the earlier schedule.
He alleged that the details of a scam in the purchase of mustard were in public domain and it showed that a large amount of purchase had only been made on paper.
Talking about the minimum support price (MSP) declared by the Union Government, Hooda said farmers were deeply disappointed as they were expecting a reasonable increase in the MSP of kharif crops. “The government has increased the MSP of paddy by just 53 paise per kg which is an increase of only 2.9 per cent. The increase in price of manure, seeds, irrigation, fuel, labour, harvesting, transportation and inflation too is many folds. At this rate, the farmers will not be able to recover even basic costs thus the state government must give appropriate bonus to them,” said Hooda.
The former CM said the state government continues to be adamant on banning paddy cultivation in parts of the state, despite protests by farmers and Opposition.
