Stop befooling farmers on moong procurement: SAD to CM Mann - Hindustan Times
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Stop befooling farmers on moong procurement: SAD to CM Mann

By, Chandigarh
May 23, 2022 01:20 AM IST

The Centre is procuring only 4,585 tonnes of moong from the state government agencies and there is no surety about the fate of the bulk of the remaining crop, SAD kisan wing president Sikander Singh Maluka said

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday asked Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann not to befool the farmers with announcements that their moong crop would be procured when the Centre has only agreed to buy 4,585 tonnes of the pulse, amounting to only 10-15% of the anticipated production.

Stop befooling farmers on moong procurement: SAD to CM Mann (HT)
Stop befooling farmers on moong procurement: SAD to CM Mann (HT)

In a statement here, SAD kisan wing president Sikander Singh Maluka said Punjab was set to produce 4.75 lakh tonnes of moong.

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“Right now, the union government is procuring only 4,585 tonnes of moong from the state government agencies. There is no surety about the fate of the bulk of the remaining crop,” he added.

“This is minuscule procurement, which is also riddled with riders like maintenance of a revolving fund equivalent to 15% of the sanctioned procurement, that will fail to manage the huge produce which is expected in markets shortly,” said Maluka.

Asking the CM to leave aside propaganda and allocate 780 crore needed to procure the entire moong crop, Maluka said not doing so would be devastating for farmers as they would be left to the mercy of middlemen.

Asking the CM not only to arrange funds for procuring moong, Maluka said the requisite gunny bags as well as storage facilities should also be arranged to make hassle free procurement.

Asserting that increasing the production of moong in Punjab was in the national interest, the kisan wing president said the CM should have stressed this point while seeking procurement of the entire moong crop in Punjab by the Centre.

Maluka said it was condemnable that the CM had not addressed the main demand of dairy farmers that the milk procurement price be increased by 7 per litre by state cooperatives.

“On this issue also, Bhagwant Mann has chosen to befool Punjabis by claiming that milk prices have been increased by 20 per kilo fat which essentially translates into an increase in procurement price by only I per litre for cow milk and 1.40 per litre for buffalo milk,” he said.

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