Chandigarh April 22:
Punjab Congress government has demanded the Centre to announce bonus of Rs.200 per quintal over the MSP for wheat. To boost demand, a delegation of members of the Lok Sabha Congress led by PPCC president Partap Singh Bajwa today called on the Hon'ble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum in this regard.
Manish Tewari Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Mohinder Singh Kay Pee, Santosh Chaudhary, S Ravnit Singh Bittu, S Sukhdev Singh Libra and Vijay Inder Singla accompanied the PPCC chief. Bajwa informed the Prime Minister that Punjab, the food bowl of India is again looking at the record production of 150 lakh tonnes of wheat despite adverse conditions and natural disasters such as insect attacks on crops, incriminate supply time and wandering.
Bajwa pleading the case of farmers of Punjab said that the Government of India has announced Rs.1350 MSP for wheat, which is insufficient as it does not cover the cost of production is around Rs.1700 per quintal. He told the Prime Minister that the working group on agriculture production directed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda Haryana had recommended that the MSP should be 50 percent more than the cost of cultivation.
Bajwa also said that the current small increase of only Rs. 65 per quintal in MSP of wheat does not in any way compensate farmers for increase in the cost of inputs. He said there was urgent need to proclaim bonus of not less than Rs.200 per quintal over the MSP of brevity. He sought the intervention of Prime Minister to do the needful.