Bhagwant Mann urged the farmers to revert to harvesting crops that require less water. ON HIS first visit to Mansa after taking charge as Chief Minister of Punjab, Bhagwant Mann stressed on falling ground water level, toxic soil, air and water and said that efforts need to be taken to correct the faults. Mann was in Mansa to release compensation to the farmers whose cotton crops had been damaged due to pink bollworm in October-September, last year.
The AAP government had announced to release pending compensation for the farmers and on Saturday, 13 farmers were handed over cheques by Mann. Compensation to the rest of the farmers will be transferred directly to their bank accounts, the CM said.
At Mansa, Mann spoke about the falling groundwater level and said that for one kg rice, 3,800 litres of water is needed. “Rice is not even our staple diet. Now FCI is even refusing to buy our rice. Everyday, we are making new plans and you will keep on getting to know about our new efforts in the coming days. Our land is so fertile that we can grow anything, including soyabean, bajra, mustard, pulses, sunflower, but the problem is the purchase rate. We are making all efforts to make agriculture a profitable venture for our farmer friends who are the backbone of the state’s economy.”
Mann urged the farmers to revert to harvesting crops that require less water. He also spoke about the toxic air due to various pollutants, toxic soil due to excessive use of pesticides and sprays and toxic water due to addition of chemicals in the water. “We need to work to preserve our natural resources. The whole system needs to be rehauled and I need some time to correct everything,” he said.
Talking about pink bollworm, he said, “Earlier, during the Akali government, white fly had damaged the cotton crop and now in Congress government, pink bollworm has damaged the crops. It happened due to the purchase of spurious seeds, pesticides and sprays. We will inquire about each and everything and will bring back the public’s money and it will be spent on the public only. Strict action will be taken against the culprits whosoever is found involved in this purchase.”
He added that even after crop damage, previous governments used to spend days and weeks in doing girdwari and later months wait for compensation and that too a meagre amount. He said, “I wish such crop damage would never happen and we should never gather for such functions..”
However, while talking about crop damage due to natural disasters, he said, “In the future, farmers incurring any loss from a natural disaster would be duly compensated prior to completion of assessment (girdwari). It is being done in Delhi and farmers are being given Rs 20,000 per acre compensation in advance and the same will be done in Punjab.”
The pink bollworm attack had taken place in August- September and the assessment was completed by mid October last year but till now majority of farmers had not been compensated.
He said that after he took charge, he held meeting with scientists of PAU to know the reason behind the crop damage. “I was shocked to know that they themselves were not able to save their crop from damage at times. They had no funds to research on new seeds and were not able to bring new varieties in the market. Now, we will allocate a budget for this research work as well so that scientists can recommend high profit yielding varieties of crops to farmers,” he said.
On his government’s decision of giving pension to former MLA for only one term, Mann said it has led to a debate in the country. He said the state exchequer is meant for the general public and will be spent only for their welfare. Mann said in Delhi, an MLA gets Rs 54,000 as salary including all allowances whereas a former legislator gets pension worth Rs 7,200.
Last year, due to the pink worm attack in Mansa alone, 1.36 lakh acres of 56,372 farmers were destroyed and now these farmers have been given compensation worth Rs 231 crore at Rs 17,000 per acre.
On the ocassion, farmer Gurdev Singh of Akkanwali village was given compensation worth Rs 73,418 while Harpal Singh of Mansa also got his compensation cheque from the CM.
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