Agriculture Minister Gopal Rai said that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) under the Central government has not opened a single counter for wheat procurement in Delhi, but is making false claims of purchasing the crops at Minimum Support Price (MSP) from April 1.
“Despite three letters of plea addressed to the FCI, it has not opened its wheat procurement counters, forcing the farmers to sell their wheat. The Central government determines the MSP and the FCI purchases, but the BJP is falsely accusing the Delhi government of not buying wheat at MSP,” Mr. Rai said.
Responding to claims, Delhi BJP’s Kisan Morcha president Vinod Sehrawat said that it is “sad” that Mr. Rai is playing “dirty politics” on sensitive issue such as purchase of wheat at MSP in Delhi.
“His statement is totally misleading. The FCI has started purchase of wheat crop at MSP at its Narela gdown from April 5,” Mr. Sehrawat said.
Farmers in Delhi have complained a multiple times that their produce is not properly getting the MSP. The AAP and the BJP have been blaming each other for it not happening.
In another development, the Minister also said that the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has issued show-cause notices to 13 CETPs (Common Effluent Treatment Plant), which were found not complying with prescribed standards.
“The CETPs are found to be non-functional or not properly function as a result of which, the Yamuna is getting massively polluted. Under the leadership of CM Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi government is committed to making the Yamuna pollution-free by 2023,” Mr. Rai said.
