Sunder Sham Arora starts paddy procurement in hoshiapur

Hoshiapur : Punjab Industries and Commerce Minister Sunder Sham Arora on Thursday unveiled the process of paddy procurement in the district by getting the crop of farmer Rampal of Bathian Brahmna purchased at Rs. 1888 per quintal here at New Grain Market.Inspecting some heaps of paddy in Mandi, Sunder Sham Arora accompanied by the Deputy Commissioner Apneet Riyait also interacted with the farmers to know about their experience in selling the crop. He assured the farmers that Punjab Government was committed to purchase every single grain of the farmers as elaborate arrangements had been made in 98 purchase centres in the district where arrival of nearly 4.41 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was expected this season. He also expressed satisfaction over the arrangments in the mandis to ensure seamless procurement besides extending all requisite amenities for the facilitation of farmers, laboureres and arthiyas especially in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
Answering a media query, the Minister lahsed out Akalis for their failure to safeguard the interests of farmers despite having Cabinet status in the Central Government. He questioned the intention of Centre that if they were real sympathiser of farmers why they didnot assured the continuation of Minimum Support Price in the Bills passed recently. He pointed out that the Akali Dal should have stood by the farmers of the state since it had been producing 50 percent of the grains of country but they remained failed to do so.Referring to another query, the Minister termed the three Bills completely anti-Punjab and anti-Farmers and said that the Centre had deliberately ignored the ‘constitutional right’ of farmers as their sole intention was to tinker with MSP in near future. He also asked the Akali Dal that were they in deep slumber when these ordinance had been brought by the Centre and now when the Shiromani Akali Dal was facing a strong opposition in villages, it preferred to severe their ties with BJP just to secure their vested political goals. He also mentioned that the People of Punjab would not spare those political parties which were against the interests of farmers.Responding to another question, Arora said that Akali Dal and other political parties in Punjab were vying for second and third position in next elections as their dual faces had already been exposed.