Badal seeks Rs 2380 cr package for Punjab farmers
Chandigarh, Aug 2 (UNI)
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's 'urgent, immediate and effective intervention' for a Central package of Rs 2380 crore for the "beleaguered Punjab farmers reeling under one of the worst Monsoon failures in recent history."
The Chief Minister's plea for saving the Punjab farmers came in a memorandum to the Prime Minister. Mr Badal is likely to meet the Prime Minister shortly to press for an immediate sanction of the much needed package, an official spokesman said today.
Mr Badal pointed out that there had been crippling 65 per cent deficit in monsoon up to July 25 this year. 'The country at large and Punjab and the North West region of the country (in particular) are in the throes of one of the worst droughts since the 1960s. Worse, the forecast for the remaining stretch of the monsoon period holds out no hope for the Kharif season." He said the timing of the rainfall deficit had dealt a crushing blow to the peasantry in Punjab as it hit them at the sowing season,' said Mr Badal in the memorandum.
The Chief Minister said that the treatment meted out to the leading agricultural state of the country had been shocking.
'We have been seeking a comprehensive economic package to save the nation's savior. Unfortunately, even the financial packages announced for farmers in the country have by-passed the country's leading agricultural state.
All this has virtually broken the back of agriculture and agriculturists in the state.' he added.