Chandigarh, August 25, 2022 (Yes Punjab News)
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today expressed shock that the AAP government was not fulfilling its promise to increase milk procurement prices to Rs 55 per kilogram fat which it had made in the last budget session besides refusing to compensate farmers for the loss of their cattle to lumpy skin disease.
In a statement here, senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said as per the announcement made by the AAP government, the Rs 55 per kg fat promise was to be fulfilled by both Milkfed and the Punjab government. “While Milkfed has started paying farmers Rs 20 per kg fat from May 21, the Punjab government has not paid farmers Rs 35 per kg fat as announced since the last three months”.
Asserting that reneging on a solemn promise made on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha amounted to cheating the dairy farmers of the State, Mr Bikram Majithia said it was even more shocking that dairy farmers were being forced to adopt the path of agitation with both chief minister Bhagwant Mann and finance minister Harpal Cheema refusing to meet them.
Mr Majithia said the callousness of the AAP government had thrown the entire dairy sector into a crisis. He said dairy farmers were already facing the onslaught of the lumpy skin disease which had killed lakhs of milch animals in the State besides reducing milk productivity. He said the government neither provided compensation at the rate of Rs 50,000 per animal as demanded by dairy farmers nor provided adequate treatment and vaccination to ward off lumpy skin disease. “At some places district officials have in utter desperation asked village panchayats to cough up funds needed for this task”.
Extending complete support to dairy farmers as well as the Progressive Dairy Farmers Association, Mr Majithia demanded the State government release money to them at the rate of Rs 35 per kg fat from May 21 this year. “If the government does not do this, the SAD will also agitate to secure justice for the dairy farmers of the State”, Mr Majithia added.
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