Amritsar, Oct 7: Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today demanded that the state's farmers be allowed to export wheat and rice to Gulf countries through the Attari-Wagah border.
Addressing a press conference here, he said there was a great demand for Indian wheat and Basmati rice in Gulf countries especially in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan and Punjab farmers could benefit a lot if they were allowed export of their agriculture produce to these countries through the land route.
On Minimum Support Price (MSP), Badal demanded minimum of Rs 2,200 per quintal as MSP for wheat in view of rising input cost for farmers.
Badal pointed out that the price of DAP fertilizers has risen from Rs 437 per bag during last season to 1,125 per bag this season due to withdrawal of subsidy on fertilizer. He said Shiromani Akali Dal had been demanding implementation of recommendations of Swaminathan Commission linking MSP of agriculture produce with cost of agriculture inputs but alleged Congress party was trying to protect the interests of multinational companies.
He said that after the decontrolling of fertiliser rates, producing companies doubled the rates of DAP within six months.
Accusing the Centre of “deliberately” slowing the movement of old procured paddy from Punjab to other beneficiary states through rail routes, Badal said Congress party was trying to create problems in procurement of paddy this season.
He said Punjab government had been requesting the Centre to expedite the movement of grain from Punjab, allocate more funds to the state for making storage space for procuring wheat and paddy besides additional allocation for post-harvest technology. PTI
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