Difficult to pay ₹100/quintal incentive for not burning paddy stubble, Manpreet tells House

Chandigarh Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal told the Vidhan Sabha on Monday that his government was finding it difficult to pay ₹100 per quintal compensation to farmers, who did not burn paddy stubble last season.

During the Question Hour, Manpreet was responding to Akali MLA Harinder Singh Chandumajra’s question on the government’s plans to compensate farmers whose wheat crop had caught pink ball-worm pest. Denying any scope for compensation, Manpreet added his government had got a survey done and found that of wheat sown over 87 lakh acre in the state, the pest attack was reported in just over 1,250 acre.

The issue of incentive to farmers not burning paddy stubble was asked as a supplementary question. To this, Manpreet added, “We will also approach the Centre for financial support to incentivise farmers.”

Last year after the paddy harvest was over, the Supreme Court asked Punjab government to pay the ₹100 quintal incentive. The state has, so far, paid ₹24 crore as incentive to at least 30,000 farmers. The state is pressing the Centre to make the incentive a part of the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

On a question by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amarjeet Singh Sandhoa, industries minister Sunder Sham Arora said there was no proposal to set up a new government industrial unit in Rupnagar. He, however, added that under the new industrial and business development policy, 15 entrepreneurs have applied for setting up new or expanding existing units in the state at a cost of ₹1,632 crore and these units intend to give employment to 7,455.

On a question and observation by SAD MLA Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal that the laying of sewage system in the Batala town of Gurdaspur district in parts would not help the cause, local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra said he would look into the matter. Earlier, Mohindra had informed the MLA that under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme planning, designing and tender inviting and part tender processing had been done over the past three years. Mohindra added that four works amounting to ₹70.8 crore to provide water supply and sewage system had been approved; it was then that Lodhinangal added that work should be executed in continuity.

Policy to ban plastic packing for milk

Health and family planning minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said his government would bring a policy to do away with the practice of using plastic for milk distribution before the next session of the House. He was responding to MLA Avtar Singh Junior’s question on the sale of milk leading to a severe environment hazard as plastic was used in huge quantities in its distribution.

Saying that in 2018-19, Milkfed, which owns the Verka brand, processed around 5,992 lakh liters of milk, which was packed in 80 crore plastic pouches made from 1,803 tonne of plastic film, the MLA had suggested that a milk dispensing system be adopted in the state, as Mother Dairy was doing in New Delhi.