Siraj for improving plight of villagers

LAHORE

JI ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has called upon the government to allocate more resources for rural areas to improve the plight of the villagers and to check fast urbanisation.

Talking to the Kissan Board President Ch Nisar Ahamd advocate and KBP Secretary General Arsalan Khan Khakwani, who called on him at Mansoora on Sunday to apprise him of the problems of the farming community, the JI chief demanded a foolproof security system to ensure reasonable return to the growers for their crops and to end their exploitation by the middlemen.

He demanded building of new dams to augment irrigation water resources so that more areas could be brought under the plough. Sirajul Haq alleged that the government had left seventy per cent of the country’s population living in rural areas at the mercy of the feudal lords and vaderas who treated them like animals. The JI chief said that the wrong policies of the government had ruined the agriculture and the farmers were finding it hard to make both ends meet. He said only thirty per cent of the GDP was being spent on the rural population which comprised 70 per cent of the population.

The living conditions in the rural areas were poor due to which thousands of the people were shifting to the urban areas every year. He said that only four per cent of the DGP was being spent on agriculture which contributed 25 per cent to the GDP.

On the other hand, he said, 60 per cent of the GDP was being spent on industry which was contributing around 19 per cent of the GDP. The JI chief said that the rural areas lacked basic educational and health facilities. The vaderas had turned the health centers and schools into animal sheds and rural health centers did not have doctors or paramedics.

He demanded that the support price of paddy be fixed at Rs 2500 per maund and that of cotton be fixed in consultation with the growers so that their cost of production was covered. He said that state lands lying barren should be allotted to the landless tillers so that these could be brought under cultivation and the national income was increased. Besides, he said, diesel and electricity should be provided to the agricultural tube wells on subsidised rates.