Badal bags Rs 350-cr relief package for paddy farmers

A Punjab government press release quoting the package said state farmers will be paid the original minimum support price (MSP) of paddy of Rs 540 per quintal for Grade `A’ paddy and Rs 510 per quintal for common paddy.

Earlier, Shanta Kumar had allowed a relaxation of 4 per cent beyond the maximum limit of 3 per cent for damaged paddy but reduced the MSP by Rs 25 per quintal, resulting in a Rs 250-crore loss to the farmers.

Besides, Rs 100-crore compensatory relief will be given to those farmers who had made distress sale at prices below MSP till October 14.

Demanding this compensation, the farmers joined by the several political parties had resorted to widespread protest in the state, including rail roko, rasta roko, rallies and bandhs, in the past few days.

The meeting was attended by Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Sukhdev Singh Dhinsa, Punjab Food and Supply Minister Madan Mohan Mittal, Punjab Labour Minister Balramji Dass Tandon, Agriculture Minister Gurdev Singh Badal and Cooperatives Minister Ranjit Singh Brahmpura.

The paddy crop in Punjab had been affected due to unseasonal rainfall in the third and fourth week of September. Badal contended that paddy was not a machine-made precision product and called for a pragmatic decision keeping in mind the ground realities.

With today’s decision, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Punjab government would procure Punjab paddy with damaged, discoloured, sprouted and shrivelled grains up to a maximum limit of 7 per cent, instead of the present 3 per cent of fair average quality paddy.

The government has also decided to procure paddy with moisture content up to a maximum limit of 18 per cent, instead of 16 per cent as announced earlier, the release added.