In a big reprieve to the pea cultivators of state, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today announced a special relief package of Rs 1.56 crore to compensate the farmers for loss suffered by them due to supply of spurious pea seeds by the National Seed Corporation (NSC). According to spokesperson of Chief Minister’s Office with this decision 937 pea cultivators of the state who had suffered huge losses due to supply of 73020 kilograms of spurious pea seed by NSC would be duly compensated by state government after special survey by the Revenue Department. Due to supply of this seed 1625.85 acres of pea crop has been destroyed. Expressing solidarity with these farmers in this hour of agrarian crisis, the Chief Minister has asked the Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) to treat this as a special case for compensating the farmers for this huge loss.
Reiterating the firm commitment of the state government to bail out the farmers from the crisis, the Chief Minister said that the state government was duty bound to help the hard working farmers of the state and was solidly behind them to resolve every issue faced by them. He said that the state government has already raised the issue of supply of spurious seeds with the NSC and a regular tab was being kept on the issue. Likewise, Mr. Badal said that the Director General of Vigilance Bureau of the state has also been asked to investigate the matter so as to ensure that the culprits behind the supply of spurious seeds could be brought to book. It may be recalled that a delegation of pea cultivators had met the Chief Minister during his recent Sangat Darshan at Nawanshehar and had brought the matter to his notice. The state Horticulture department had already in its enquiry found that 50% of AP 3 variety of seeds supplied by NSC was mixture of other varieties whereas the same variety of seed supplied by private companies were without any such mixture.