The AAP government has urged the Union government to allocate a special package to the state to compensate it for the industrial packages given to hill states by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab has sought a special financial relief package from the Union government on the lines of the one given to hill states.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters on Saturday, chief spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang said Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal met Union Agriculture Minister Narinder Singh Tomar recently. He demanded a financial assistance that should address the economic woes of the farmers and also encourage them for crop diversification and curb stubble burning in the state.
Advertisement
During a meeting with Union minister at the national conference of agriculture and horticulture ministers of the states in Bengaluru, Kang said Dhaliwal also demanded Rs 15, 000 per acre per year compensation for border area farmers to reduce their hardships as they can work only 10 am to 4 pm and cannot grow crops higher than 3 feet due to border restrictions.
Advertisement
Since punjab is an agrarian state where most of the population is dependent on the agriculture, the AAP government has urged the Union government to allocate a special package to the state to compensate it for the industrial packages given to hill states by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Kang said Punjab has fed food grains, wheat and rice to the nation for four decades of scarcity and now it is the duty of the Union government to extend financial help to take the farmers of Punjab out of the debt trap. He also urged the Union minister Tomar to fulfil his promise made during the farmers’ protest and constitute a committee to look into the issue of minimum support price.
Advertisement
