Declare state drought-hit,release Rs 5,000 cr : Congress to Centre

The Punjab Congress on Friday urged the Centre to declare Punjab a drought-hit state release Rs 5,000 crore compensation package for farmers.

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The Punjab Congress on Friday urged the Centre to declare Punjab a drought-hit state release Rs 5,000 crore compensation package for farmers. It also urged the state government to announce a bonus of Rs 100 over and above the minimum support price (MSP) for the paddy crop if it was genuinely concerned about the plight of the farmers.

Former Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira,in a statement said as per the Indian Meteorological Department,the rainfall deficit in Punjab,as on date,was 65 per cent. Despite such a huge deficit in rainfall the farmers have achieved 100 per cent target of sowing 27.80 lakh hectares of paddy sowing,Khaira said.

In order to sustain water intensive crops such as paddy,the farmers have been burning diesel through their generators right from day one. Due to deficient rainfall,the water table too has gone down drastically,forcing the farmers bear the extra burden of deepening the borewells, Khaira said,adding that this has pushed the production cost of the crop manifold.

The rainfall deficit would also result in lesser yield,having a serious bearing on the food pool of the country.

The agrarian economy of the state is already in shambles with the farmers under a debt burden of Rs 40,000 crore. The Centre must give at least Rs 5000 per acre as compensation for all the standing crops,so that the farmers can sustain their livelihood, he added.

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