At first sarkar-kisan milni, Mann says new agri policy to have all their feedback

He added that policies can’t be framed sitting in AC rooms as it used to be done earlier. “The gap between decision maker and stakeholder needs to be ended. Farmers earlier used to use whatever seeds available to him and spray whatever was more profitable for pesticides dealers and hence had hardly any know how. I feel that we need to upgrade our sowing, irrigation, cultivation, harvesting techniques and so much so even marketing techniques as well so as to make agriculture a profitable venture. Crops need to have value addition so as to sell them at good profits for which the government is here to help you.”

“Targeting the previous Congress and SAD-BJP governments, the CM said, “They never thought about farmers except a the time of giving few statements. Harsimrat Kaur Badal remained Union food processing minister and still she couldn’t bring any processing unit to Punjab. Now Punjab will have processing units soon.

Talking about environment, Mann said that as per records of the canal department, Punjab which is a land of rivers, is utilising only 34% of its canal water while Rajasthan is using 87%. “If this canal water usage for irrigation and other works is even doubled, 50% of the tubewells in Punjab will be closed and groundwater level will come up. For this we will be laying underground water pipes to make canal water reach till fields. Earlier, the government had a scheme of 10% contribution of funds by village panchayat and 90% by the state government, however, many panchayats never arrangeed for these funds. We have decided to contribute 100% on our own,” he said.

He added that Punjab also needs to reduce area under paddy as one kg of paddy uses 3800 litres of water while rice is not even our staple food. “However, Basmati is still a profitable venture as its demand is huge worldwide. Punjab now produces 80% of the world’s Basmati and in in the last season, Basmati was sold as high as Rs 4,000 per quintal. And even this year, the Punjab government will not let the prices of Basmati fall. If prices fall, the government would step in. Hence, people should increase area under Basmati,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mann strongly supported the idea of AAP government giving 300 units free power to masses per month despite the fact that PSPCL officials had raised financial crisis red flags a number of times in the past. He said, “The Delhi government doesn’t produces own power but still it gives it for free to masses under schemes and Punjab is a state which produces its own power via thermal and hydel units, so why can’t we give it free to our masses? We have controlled leakages at many ends due to which corruption is being controlled so we are trying to pass on that benefit to the masses.”

However, sugarcane farmers complained of delayed payments by sugar mills due to which they were reducing area under sugarcane to which Mann said that government mills had paid all dues and he was working on the matter of private mills.

Mann targeted opposition parties in which he stated that previous governments had promoted sand mafia and now government sand mine facilities had controlled rates of sand. “We have controlled the rates of sand and now our next target is to end drug mafia. We are working on it, so give us some time. Chitta khatam karna hai..kuchh time de deo..oh vi kar dewange..” He added, “Our soil is fertile, people are hardworking, we just need to walk with the time. We need to upgrade agriculture methods to survive and for that we are here for you all.” He even referred to around 9 acres land of Punjab government in Goa near a prime beach which previous governments never thought of utilising and earning money out of it. Towards the end of his speech he spoke about mazdoors and small shopkeepers as stated that they too need to be taken along to make Punjab prosperous again as everyone is linked in a chain.

Meanwhile, PAU teachers performed duties at the stages of the function after wearing black ribbons as a mark of their protest. They also took out a protest rally near plant breeding and genetics department from 11am – 3 pm.