FCI cannot survive without contribution by Punjab farmers: Bhagwant Mann

BATHINDA: Aiming to provide some relief to aggrieved farmers facing damage to wheat crop due to excessive rains, hails in late March and early April, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann started the process to disburse compensation to the farmers with the state government distributing Rs 40 crore across the state on the first day on Thursday. He distributed Rs 6 crore out of the total Rs 12.94 crore as compensation for 362 villages of Fazilka.
Addressing the gathering Bhagwant Mann said that after the incessant rains he had extensively toured the affected areas to take stock of the situation at the ground level. He was peeved to note the colossal loss suffered by the farmers due to the inclement weather condition.
The state government ordered comprehensive special Girdawari to ascertain the loss suffered by the people. The Girdawari was a paradigm shift as compared to the previous governments as earlier only lip service was made and no compensation was given to the people as during those regimes Girdawaris were done only on the basis of political affiliation and no genuine beneficiary was helped but this time completely transparent mechanism has been adopted for conducting the Girdawari in an efficient manner.
Bhagwant Mann said that it is for the first time that the drive to disburse compensation has been started within 20 days of loss themed ‘crops are still standing in fields but the compensation is in the bank accounts’.
The Chief Minister said that instead of requesting the centre for compensating the farmers for crop loss due to rains, the state government will bear the entire expense of the burden being faced by the farmers due to the cut being imposed by Government of India (GOI) on damaged wheat grain. He said that the farmers have suffered huge loss due to incessant rains but the indifferent centre government has not done anything to bail them out.
The Chief Minister categorically said that filling the national Food pool is not possible without Punjabi farmers adding that Food Corporation of India (FCI) cannot survive without the hard working and resilient food growers of the state.
He vowed that every single penny of cut imposed on farmers will be extracted from the centre with interest when the centre will seek supply of grains in terms of wheat and paddy for the national food pool. Bhagwant Mann said that the centre is completely indifferent towards Punjab and its farmers which cannot be tolerated at any cost.