Hold talks with farmers to end deadlock: Khudian to Chouhan

Punjab cabinet minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian on Saturday sought Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s intervention saying that the Centre should hold a dialogue with the protesting farmers at the earliest to break the deadlock.

He told Chouhan that farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal is sitting on an indefinite hunger strike for the past 40 days at the Khanauri protest site in Punjab. He said being a Union agriculture minister, Chouhan should take personal interest in the matter.

During a virtual meeting, Chouhan on Saturday reviewed various schemes with state agriculture ministers and sought their suggestions on ongoing programmes and budget allocation ahead of the Union budget.

Punjab’s agriculture minister Khudian, who joined the meeting through video-conferencing, raised the matter related to the protesting farmers.

Khudian said states have many hopes from the Centre and hoped that he will make personal intervention and will contribute in the present matter.

Khuddian said it is imperative that the Centre should take immediate action to address the grievances of farmers and save Dallewal’s life. He reiterated that the Punjab government supports the farmers’ legitimate demands.

Asked about holding talks with the protesting farmers to end the logjam, Chouhan said on Wednesday that the government will act in accordance with the Supreme Court’s instructions on the ongoing farmers’ protest at the Punjab-Haryana border.

Raising another issue at the meeting, Khudian sought ₹15,000 per acre for the farmers as gap funding for providing returns over the variable cost of alternative crops to wean away them from the water-guzzling paddy crop.

He emphasised that since the fast depleting underground water and climate change in the region are major cause of concerns and there is an emergent need to shift maximum area from paddy to another alternative crops — maize, cotton, kharif pulses and oilseed crops under crop diversification scheme so that farmers can get profit equal to paddy.

The minister also suggested that the Centre should come forward to hold the arm of the state farmers by offering financial assistance of ₹2,500 per acre to the farmers for managing paddy straw scientifically.

Khudian sought go ahead for the cultivation of BG 3 hybrid seeds, which are pink bollworm and whitefly resistant, in the state as over a few years there have been many pest attacks, he said.

Apart from this, subsidy should be given under centrally sponsored schemes on improved cotton hybrid seeds to revive cotton production in the state, he said.