Paddy protest at PM’s doorstep

To further pressure the Centre into starting procurement of paddy crop in Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today threatened to stage a...

To further pressure the Centre into starting procurement of paddy crop in Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today threatened to stage an indefinite sit-in protest outside the Prime Minister’s residence from Thursday.

Amarinder said the entire Cabinet, party legislators and MPs will participate in the demonstration. ‘‘We have informed Congress chief Sonia Gandhi about the protest and she has given us the go-ahead,’’ he said. His partymen would also block trains in Punjab on Friday for one hour.

Amarinder, who met Finance Minister Jaswant Singh today, has been demanding an early announcement of the minimum support price (MSP) by the Centre. He has also demanded that the Centre scrap the new MSP formula that restricts the state government’s share of taxes on the procurement from 11.5 to 4 per cent. The new formula, if implemented, would incur a loss of about Rs 1,000 crore to the Punjab government.

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Jaswant reportedly told the Chief Minister that his demand could only be considered after the Prime Minister returns from his Male trip.

Amarinder has been meeting Central leaders in the Capital to push through his demands. His government has been facing sharp criticism from the state’s farmers because of the delayed announcement of MSP by the Centre. Sources said the farmers have already started selling off their produce to middlemen at cheaper rates because the paddy crop can’t be kept in the open for long.

Amarinder today said he was left with no alternative but to hold the dharna outside the Prime Minister’s residence. He has proposed an MSP of Rs 660 per quintal for common paddy and Rs 726 per quintal for rice of better quality.

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