PML-N MPs blast govt for ignoring farmers

LAHORE
While speaking in the Punjab Assembly on Monday, PML-N MPA Waris Kallu from Khushab district blasted his government for poor governance and failure to provide any kind of support to the farming community in the province.
He was speaking during a heated discussion on the problems being faced by the agriculture sector and sugarcane growers in Punjab.
Dismissing the government’s support prices for farmers, Kallu demanded that farmers be given a free hand to grow whatever crops they want and sell their harvest on their own free will.
The ruling party MPA declared the ministers for Agriculture and Food helpless in the face of powerful sugar mill owners and industrialists. He related the problems of the farming community at length and said they had been trapped between the exploitative middlemen and the government officials overtaxing them and dictating heir terms over the supply of their produce.
The Punjab Assembly resumed proceedings on Monday with less than 40 MPAs present and only four persons sitting on the opposition bench. A failure to maintain quorum became apparent during the session as the house remained empty for important discussions on agriculture and sugarcane growers in the province.
Not a single MPA from the opposition questioned the inefficiency of the Punjab government in these sectors on Monday, though earlier multiple requests were made by them to the PA speaker to hold a discussion on the crucial issue.
The discussion began with the opening statements by Food Minister Bilal Yasin, who was accompanied by Agriculture Minister Dr Farrukh Javed.
About the sugarcane growers, Minister Yasin informed the house that 85 per cent of farmers had been paid this crushing season by mill-owners due to the efforts of a committee, constituted by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
The Punjab government has kept the purchase price for sugarcane at Rs180 per 40 kilograms to benefit the growers and firm action would be taken against mill-owners violating these orders, said the food minister in PA on Monday.
However, members from ruling and opposition sides expressed their grievances over lack of implementation of the sugarcane purchase price and collusion between the government departments and influential industrialists.
PML-N MPA Mian Muhammad Rafique of Toba Tek Singh reprimanded the Punjab government for not helping farmers, despite their immense contribution to the gross domestic product. He lauded neighbouring India for establishing storage banks for times of demand and having support prices for all crops, whereas the government in Pakistan is focused entirely on wheat produce.
The ruling party MPA criticised the government for relying on the neighbour for cheaper vegetables and molasses that he claimed were used by sugar mills in the province. Rafique demanded that the federal government jumpstart plans for Kalabagh dam to store water for agricultural purposes and benefit hardworking farmers with greater electricity provision.
PML-N MPA Amjad Ali Javed complained that the condition of farmers had only worsened under the current government and they had been afflicted with poverty. Javed said the mafia of industrialists in the province had become stronger and profits are being made at the cost of farmers. He claimed that cooperative banks in Punjab were only issuing loans to a select few agriculturists who had repeatedly defaulted on payments. Javed requested the government to give subsidies in order to make tube-wells operational and increase agricultural produce.
Meanwhile, ruling party MPA Abdul Rauf Mughal said rice farmers were being completely ignored by the government and rice mill-owners are mercilessly exploiting them for lower purchase prices.
His colleague MPA Ilyas Chinoti added to the criticism by stating that the dispute between sugarcane growers and mill owners is lingering on as influential mill owners are insistent on the lower purchase price of Rs155 per 40 kilograms. The government should ensure that better quality seed is provided to farmers at low price, agricultural research centres are operating to the best of their ability and pilferage of water is curbed, added PML-N MPA Ramesh Singh Arora.
In a fiery talk, PML-N MPA Sheikh Allauddin demanded that the monopoly of sugar mill owners should be ended.
In other assembly business, Home Minister Shuja Khanzada introduced ‘The Punjab Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Amendment Bill 2015’ to increase quota in the government jobs for persons with disabilities from two to three per cent. It was referred to a standing committee for a report in two months.
The house was adjourned for Tuesday (today).