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240 Rs 800 crore central assistance to farmers of Punjab Congress demands disbursal of Compensation for drought hit paddy Bholath, March 18, 2010 Sukhpal Singh Khaira , MLA Bholath Govt. of India has agreed to release Rs. 800 crores as compensation for drought hit paddy growers of Punjab….but Punjab must… In a welcome step the Govt. of India has agreed to release Rs. 800 crores as compensation for drought hit paddy growers of Punjab during last season. Responding to Sh. Naresh Gujral in the RajyaSabha the Union Finance Minister Sh. Pranab Mukherjee said that Rs. 800 crores would be released to paddy growers of Punjab as compensation for having sustained the paddy crop despite severe drought condition in Punjab by burning diesel through generators, due to lack of power supply and shortfall in rain. The congress also raised the matter during Zero hour today and urged the Govt. to make a statement on the floor of the house that this Rs. 800 crore compensation be passed on to those farmers, whose cost of input went up manifold due to usage of diesel to sustain their crops. The congress party demands that the Rs. 800 crore be passed on to 12.82 lac tubewell owner farmers of Punjab who used diesel through generating sets to sustain paddy due to poor power supply. Also those farmers who do not own any tubewell connections be also suitably compensated as they are the worst sufferers who do not have tubewell connections nor any canal water supply. The congress party has an apprehension that like other centrally sponsored schemes the Govt. of Punjab is likely to misuse or divert the said Rs. 800 crores package for other purposes rather than paying compensation to farmers. Therefore the Govt. must ensure that this Rs. 800 crores be passed to those farmers who genuinely suffered due to lack of rainfall and shortage of power. Sukhpal Singh Khaira, MLA Bholath. May 20, 2010 In response to my letter addressed to Finance Minister of India, the Minister of State for Finance Sh. Namo Narain Meena vide his letter No. 21(2) PF.1/2009 dated 29.04.10 has informed me, that the Govt. of India has released Rs 800 crores as additional central assistance to Punjab for sustaining last year’s paddy crop in face of scanty rains and power shortage. The said Rs 800 crores was announced by Sh. Sharad Pawar Agriculture Minister during the budget session of the Parliament. As we are aware there was inadequate rainfall during the last paddy season and that the Govt. of Punjab failed to provide sufficient power supply to the farmers. Due to above stated reasons the farmers had to use diesel propelled generators to sustain their paddy crop, as result the input cost increased by a minimum of Rs 5000 per acre. The increased cost of input was primarily borne by the 13.50 lac tubewell connection owners and those without connections infact faced more hardship on account of sustaining crop solely with the help of diesel generators. Therefore, the congress party urges the SAD-BJP govt. to proportionately distribute the Rs 800 crores of central assistance to the 13.50 lac tubewell operators as well as those small and marginal farmers using only diesel generators and without tubewell connections. The congress has a hunch that like other central funds the Rs 800 crores package is likely to be diverted by the SAD-BJP govt. for petty political gains. In case the state govt. fails to pass on this Rs 800 crores to the farmers of Punjab, it would be presumed beyond doubt that the Akali’s only offer lip service to the cause of farmer’s and are not actually interested to rescue the debt ridden farmers of Punjab who are burdened with a debt of Rs 35000 crores.
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