Chandigarh, Oct 13 To address the farming community’s grievances, the Punjab government’s group of ministers met with the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), led by Joginder Singh Ugrahan, on Tuesday.
The Group of Ministers (GoM), comprising Cabinet Ministers Harpal Singh Cheema, Aman Arora, and Gurmeet Singh Khudian, held extensive discussions with the farmer representatives here.
The ministerial delegation was joined by the Punjab government’s Additional Chief Secretary of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Anurag Verma, along with senior officers from various concerned departments.
After marathon discussions based on a memorandum submitted by the farmers’ union, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, “The dialogue took place in a highly cordial atmosphere and resulted in a strong consensus on several crucial matters.” Acknowledging farmers as the backbone of Punjab’s agriculture and overall economy, the Finance Minister emphasised the Bhagwant Mann government’s unwavering commitment to their welfare.
He said, “During the exhaustive discussions on the union’s demands, mutually agreeable timeframes of one to two months were established to ensure the systematic and timely resolution of the accepted local issues.”
Addressing the specific demand concerning pending First Information Reports (FIRs) registered against farmers during past agitations, Minister Cheema stated, “A significant number of these cases have already been cancelled by the state. For the approximately 13 to 16 cases currently pending in various courts, the government has devised a strategic, stage-wise legal framework to facilitate their prompt withdrawal.” Responding to the union’s demand for a dedicated budget allocation to cover crop damage, the Finance Minister informed the representatives that the state government had already earmarked Rs 750 crore for compensation and that the disbursal process for affected farmers was underway.
The discussions also focused extensively on compensation for tenant farmers.
A highly sympathetic view was taken regarding the longstanding issue of cultivators who have been tilling land for several decades without formal ownership rights, Cheema said.
Cheema assured the union that all major agrarian issues pending with the Central Government would be debated robustly in the session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha next week.
He asserted, “The Bhagwant Mann Government had consistently defended the state’s agricultural sector against corporate monopolisation.”
Sharing copies of the resolutions with the Union, the Finance Minister stated, “In previous Assembly sessions, the state government had already passed and forwarded strong resolutions to the Union Government opposing detrimental international agricultural trade agreements and the contentious Electricity Bill.”
The Group of Ministers reiterated the state government’s firm resolve to continue protecting the rights and livelihoods of farmers on all legislative and administrative fronts.
(PTI News)
