Mansa, March 26
In a path-breaking initiative, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday assured farmers of compensation for the loss caused to their crop due to natural disasters and said that they will now get relief prior to the completion of assessment (girdawari).
Addressing a gathering at a function organised to distribute compensation to farmers who lost their crop due to pink worm attack, the Chief Minister said that it is unfortunate that food growers get the compensation after a long process of assessment of crop loss. He said now farmers will get compensation prior to assessment as already being done in Delhi. Mann said that this will be instrumental in saving the undue harassment of farmers for getting compensation after a cumbersome process.
The Chief Minister said that in Malwa belt farmers had lost their cotton crop not because of attack by white and pink worm, but due to the poor quality of seeds and pesticides. He said a thorough inquiry will be conducted in this regard and strict action will be taken against the culprits for supplying spurious seeds and pesticides to farmers.
The Chief Minister said had the then government performed its duty well and ensured supply of good seeds and pesticides, farmers would not have faced such hardships. He said meagre compensation after such a whopping loss rubs salt into the wounds of farmers. Mann said the successive governments have turned the food growers of the country into beggars, who have to face a lot of exploitation for getting the compensation of their losses.
Promising to make agriculture a profitable venture, the Chief Minister said the state government is holding parleys with the experts of various universities so as to introduce new technology for motivating farmers to cultivate high profit-yielding varieties of crops. He said agriculture is the backbone of Punjab’s economy and the state government will leave no stone unturned to make it a profit-making occupation. Bhagwant Mann said that budgetary provision will be made to provide funds to agriculture university for new research and high-quality seeds of various crops.
Crop damage: Farmers to get compensation before assessment, says CM Mann
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