Though farmer unions and the Opposition parties are up in arms over allotment of 11 corporate silos in nine districts of Punjab as procurement centres, Punjab Mandi Board has said that 10 silos in eight districts of Punjab were used as procurement and storage centres last year as well. Meanwhile, the Punjab government has added one more silo in the existing list of 11 silos, thus taking the number to 12. The 12th one is LT Foods Silo in Bhagtanwala village of Amritsar with a total capacity of 50,000 tonnes. “The notification for the 12th silo was issued on March 22, while for the rest 11 on March 15. Now, the total silos are 12 in nine districts with a storage capacity of 7.75 lakh tonnes of food grains,” said a Mandi board source. However, farmers are not ready to buy this argument of the Punjab government. BKU Ugrahan has announced to issue warning letters to all the AAP MLAs across the state from April 3 to April 5, asking them to withdraw the orders. On April 8, SKM have planned to hold a mega protest rally in Chandigarh against these orders. Farmer unions claim that this is a step to disband the agriculture produce market committees (APMC). BKU Ugrahan general secretary Sukhdev Singh said, “This is just a start to implement the repealed farm laws using back channel, and we will not let it happen. Already 26 APMCs are coming in the area of these 12 silos and slowly, they will add more silos and disband mandis gradually. We don't buy their argument.” Information from the Mandi board revealed that silos are just the storage points and the number of mandis notified for procurement is 1,907 this year. This number was the same even last year. “The crop is sold through commission agents. The agent is getting his commission as it is. We are using silos as storage centres and a number of them were used last year as well. The number of mandis notified for procurement hasn't been reduced,” said Amrit Gill, Secretary, Punjab Mandi Board. Farmers are also getting political support with Sukhpal Khaira, Congress MLA from Bholath, speaking in their favour on Saturday and also on Monday. On this issue farmers also found Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal in their corner. It may be noted that Adani silo at Dagru village in Moga district has been existing since 2007. The number of silos kept on increasing over the years. “Silos are better storage centres. Farmers are paid as per the minimum support price (MSP), so no one should have any issue with silos,” a Mandi board official said. While addressing a gathering at Jhanda Khurd village in Sardulgarh assembly segment on Monday, Harsimrat Badal said, “By notifying 11 silos, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has implemented the agenda of the central government and brought in one of the three hated and repealed black laws after more than a year of struggle by farmer unions at Delhi borders.” Urging farmers to unite to defeat the “nefarious conspiracy to privatise mandis in Punjab by the AAP government”, Harsimrat Badal said, “More than 700 farmers gave up their lives to get these black laws repealed. We cannot let their sacrifices go in vain by allowing this anti-farmer government to privatise our mandis.” Talking to the media in Sangrur on Sunday after attending a bhog ceremony, Sukhbir Badal said, “Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann has stabbed the farmers in the back by implementing the corporate agenda, giving them monopoly over marketing of farmers' produce. For the farmers, Mann is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He has become the first CM in the country to implement the black farm law, for which hundreds of farmers had sacrificed their lives in the long kisan agitation at Delhi borders a couple of years ago.” The Akali president also asked the CM to come clean on the “quid pro quo for selling out the farmers' cause”. He appealed to the people to boycott the AAP “for this decision”. Sukhbir Badal said, “It is a question of life and death for the farmers and Bhagwant Mann cannot pretend that he doesn’t know what the farmers want. The whole world knows about that.”
