12-hr power supply, procurement at MSP: Kejriwal tells farmers
The Delhi CM was addressing a huge public meeting at the ground of NDH High School in Dwarka town of Devbhumi Dwarka district.
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Arvind Kejriwal at a public meeting in Dwarka, Friday. (Express Photo)Crop procurement at minimum support price (MSP), 12 hours of electricity during daytime and Narmada water to every farmer in the command area of the project were among the five big promises made by Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal to farmers of Gujarat Friday ahead of the Assembly polls scheduled for December.
Kejriwal also added that if AAP wins the Assembly election, it will also waive farm loans.
The Delhi CM was addressing a huge public meeting at the ground of NDH High School in Dwarka town of Devbhumi Dwarka district.
He said if voted to power, the AAP government will start to procure farmers’ produce at government-fixed MSP with wheat, rice, cotton, gram and groundnut.
“Government declares MSP every season for every year. However, procurement under MSP doesn’t happen. In the market, no one purchases crops at MSP. If a farmer wants to sell his crop at MSP, government will procure it. We will begin it with five crops and increase the number of crops with every passing year. You go to the government’s counter in mandi and the government will procure your entire harvest at MSP,” Kejriwal told farmers.
In addition, he said the AAP government will supply power to farmers for 12 hours daily during daytime and that land survey done by the state government through satellite will be annulled and a fresh survey will be done.
Kejriwal claimed that farmers in Gujarat were getting power supply during night hours.
“Today, farmers get electricity at night. They get power at 2 am or 3 am. Paatil sahab gets round-the-clock power supply. CM sahab gets power supply round-the-clock. But farmers get it at 2 o’clock .This is injustice. We will give farmers electricity during the daytime, for 12 hours, so that they can do their work,” said the Delhi CM.
As a fourth guarantee, Kejriwal said that just like in Delhi, they will pay farmers Rs 20,000 compensation per acre in an event of crop loss due to natural calamities.
Kejriwal also promised that the government, within a year after taking charge in Gandhinagar, will take Narmada waters to each corner of the command area of Narmada dam project.
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The Central government has regularly been procuring groundnut and gram from Gujarat farmers at MSP from 2016-17 onward, while occasionally procuring cotton through the Cotton Corporation of India. The government has also been procuring Rabi crops like wheat, mustard, tur (red gram or pigeon pea).
Kejriwal’s promises came a day after Gujarat Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel claimed in Jamnagar that the government procured crops worth Rs 3,500 crore at MSP last year.
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