Chandigarh, April 6:
Punjab BJP General Secretary Subhash Sharma today said that the Amarinder Singh government was playing a politics of deception and cheating by scuttling and obstructing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's direct benefit transfer scheme for farmers in Punjab.
He said the facts are that at the insistence of many farmers' organisations, including BKU, the Punjab government had agreed to implement the scheme in letter and spirit way back in 2013 when senior IAS officer Suresh Kumar, who is now a chief principal secretary to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, had given an affidavit to the Punjab and Haryana High Court assuring that suitable provisions would be made in the agriculture marketing rules to ensure electronic transfer of funds to farmers directly?
Is it not a fact that the Punjab government and the Centre signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on February 9, 2021, whereby the Punjab government agreed to integrate an online payment system for the procurement of crops?
Is it not a fact that the Punjab government had agreed to make suitable amendments to the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee act for the purpose?
In January 2020, did not the Amarinder Singh government altered the clause of "Kacha arhtias" for the electronic transfer of funds to farmers?
Suitably, did not the Amarinder government agree to make amendments to the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (General) Rules, 1962 for transfer of funds to farmers directly?
Is it not a fact that in March this year it was decided between the Punjab government and the Centre to allow online MSP payment to the farmers through Arhatias in Punjab only for KMS 2020-21 subject to certain conditions even as the State was asked to ensure implementation of direct online payment from RMS 2021-22 instead of through intermediaries or Arhatias in compliance of PFMS mandate?
Sharma wondered if the Amarinder Singh government was playing cheap politics in the name of farmers or does it have any insincerity in governance vis -a -vis welfare of farmers or the state ?