The Punjab Cabinet on Monday urged the Centre to relax norms for wheat procurement for the current season in view of crop damage because of unseasonal rains.
A decision to this effect was taken by the council of ministers in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann here, said an official release. The Cabinet requested the Union Government to order appropriate relaxation in specifications without any value cut. Farmers suffered significant crop loss because of rains and high-velocity winds, it said.
“Such rains at the time of maturation of wheat crop caused considerable damage to the standing crop and also affected the quality of the wheat grains because of water logging, leading to loss of lustre and blackened grains,” said the statement.
Therefore, the Cabinet urged that prescribed uniform specifications of wheat with regard to damaged, slightly damaged, shrivelled and broken grains, lustre and moisture content should be relaxed by the government of India. The Cabinet observed that the share of Centre in compensation given per acre to farmers for compensating their loss due to the natural disaster was on lower side in the wake of exorbitant increase in the prices of agriculture inputs borne by farmers.
The Punjab government has recently enhanced its own share to Rs 8,200 from the existing Rs 6,600 to ensure that the farmers having crop loss more than 75 per cent are given Rs 15,000 per acre. The Cabinet urged the government of India for upward revision of the compensation to the affected farmers.
Unfortunately, intensity and frequency of rains coupled with high velocity winds and hailstorms have caused substantial damage to crops and impaired livelihood of a large number of farmers. The Cabinet urged the Centre to duly compensate farmers whose standing crops have been affected due to recent heavy rains coupled with high-velocity winds and hailstorms adding that the existing norms to provide for a minimum compensation per acre to the affected farmers needs to be revised.
The council of ministers recalled that Punjab has always been at the forefront of ensuring food security of the nation and has been contributing about 40-50 per cent of wheat and 30-35 per cent of rice to the central pool over the last three decades.
Such was the level of involvement and commitment of the farmers to their profession that with just over two per cent of the country’s geographical area and even less as a percentage of the country’s population, Punjab contributes the heaviest share among all states to the national food kitty, earning them it the sobriquet of the country’s food bowl and granary, it said. Meanwhile, it was also decided that cabinet ministers will undertake tours in their respective districts to oversee ongoing girdawari (field inspection) operations.
The Cabinet also gave the green signal for sending the case of one prisoner for premature release from jail. The special remission release case will be submitted to the Punjab Governor under Article 161 of the Indian constitution, it said.
