Chandigarh, November 19, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab’s Kisan wing president and Kotkapura MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan on Thursday said that the unhindered smuggling of paddy from others states and selling it in Punjab was continuing under the protective patronage of the Captain Amarinder Singh, saying it would ruin the peasantry, which was already fighting a grim battle for survival and sustenance.
In a statement issued from party headquarters here on Thursday, Kutar Singh Sandhwan said that the smuggling of paddy from other states was going unabated at a time when the farmers were fighting against the three contentious agricultural laws pushed in by the Modi government at the centre, with the state government acting as a lame duck, saying it had exposed the anti-farmer face of Captain Amarinder Singh.
Giving details, Kultar Singh Sandhwan said that some 40 lakh quintal of paddy had already being ferried from the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan at cheaper rates, ranging between Rs 1000-Rs1100, and was being illegally sold in Punjab ‘mandis’ at fixed minimum support price (MSP) in collusion with the ‘arhtiyas’ and others enjoying political patronage.
The Kisan leader on the occasion said that some of the main ‘mandis’ in Punjab where desperate sale of the smuggled paddy from other states was continuing under the nose of those at the helms of affairs, including ‘arhtiyas’ police dispensation and the who’s who of the ruling Congress Party, included Sangrur, Ludhiana, Muktsar, Tarn Taran, and Amritsar districts, with the government turning a Nelson’s eye.
Kultar Singh Sandhwan said that the government in the saddle, instead of checking the wanton smuggling of paddy from other states and its unauthorized sale in Punjab ‘mandis’ by the mighty mafia, started patronizing it by imposing a ban on the sale, purchase, storage and processing of paddy in more than 4,000 sub-yards and designated purchase centres in the state, leaving the beleaguered farming community in a quandary, adding that the government cracked a whip on the farmers instead of penalizing those behind the unholy nexus.
Sandhwan added that the farmers of the state had already suffered huge losses due to the mismanagement on the part government and Punjab Mandi Board officials for not putting in place timely measure to protect the paddy lying scattered in ‘mandis’, thus delaying the smooth process of lifting it.
The Kotkapura MLA said that Captain Amarinder Singh should come out of his royal palace and hold hands of the farmer and initiate steps to tame those behind the smuggling of paddy and its illegal sale and purchase in Punjab ‘mandis’, saying it would ruin the peasantry to the hilt. He said that if the government failed to address the issue, the AAP would take the issue to each and every household in Punjab and expose the nexus.
