He said the storage problem arose due to the failure of the central government.
Punjab News (Aaj Samaj), Chandigarh: Currently, the rice season is in full swing in the state, but the bumper rice production has become a headache for the state government. Farmers are reaching the markets with their crops, but there is a delay in their purchase. So farmers are frustrated. On the other hand, the Chief Minister is cursing the Central Government for the delay in rice procurement and lifting.
He has demanded the immediate intervention of the Home Minister in the matter. State Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khundia also held the central government responsible for the current situation in the state. The Agriculture Minister said that the Punjab government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, is committed to purchasing every grain of rice from the mandis. Gurmeet Singh Khuddiya said rice procurement operations are being hampered due to deliberate delay in shifting of crops that were earlier lying in state warehouses. Holding the Central Government responsible for the negligence in lifting rice from the mandis, he said that due to this attitude of the Central Government, rice farmers and millers have started protests in the state.
The center is providing stepmother treatment to Punjab
The Agriculture Minister said that the Punjab government has purchased over 28 lakh metric tonnes of rice out of the total 31 lakh metric tonnes of rice crop that has reached the grain markets across the state so far. Gurmeet Singh Khuddian said that Punjab has always had to face challenges due to this motherly behavior of the central government. He said that despite the Punjab government ensuring early procurement of rice crop, the central government could not remove the crops purchased during the previous seasons from the warehouses, due to which the lifting work is being affected due to the lack of storage capacity.
Farmers and millers should support the government
The Agriculture Minister, while meeting farmers and rice millers and seeking cooperation to find a solution to this problem, said that despite the personal request made by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to the Central Government, the Central Government would fall on the ears deaf
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