Badal: Centre must allow wheat export

May 20, 2012 - Tanveer Thakur |

Age Correspondent

Chandigarh

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday asked the Centre to allow export of wheat from the state, it being the major producer of the crop, to bail out the beleaguered Punjabi farmers already reeling under debt stress.
Talking to mediapersons, the chief minister said that he had already taken up this issue with Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar several times but to no avail. Mr Badal pointed out that whenever there is an acute shortage of foodgrains in the country, Punjab was always reminded of its obligation towards the national food pool. On the contrary, he said that whenever there was surplus food production, as of now in case of wheat, the Centre pays no heed to our requests, which tantamount to its sheer discrimination against Punjab.
Referring to another query regarding the waiver of staggering debt on Punjab, the chief minister said that it was obligatory on the part of the Centre to relieve the state from this debt trap because it had fought alone in the nation’s decade-long battle against militancy to secure the unity and integrity of the country.
Asked to comment on the concerted efforts of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for the debt waiver for her state, the chief minister said that her ultimatum given to the Centre on either waiving the outstanding debt or seeking moratorium on its repayment should not be construed merely as efforts on her part rather these were coercive tactics aimed to bring the Congress-led UPA government on the negotiation table to accede her demand.
He made it amply clear saying, “If Centre succumbs to the pressure of Ms Banerjee tomorrow, our state is ought to be benefited because West Bengal, Kerala and Punjab had already been categorised as debt-stressed states by the 13th Finance Commission and therefore Centre can’t apply different yardsticks for the similarly situated states”.

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