Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called on the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi at the latter's official residence here this morning and sought an immediate release of Cash Credit Limit (CCL) worth Rs 20,094 crore to enable the state government to make timely payment to the farmers for the wheat procurement.Disclosing this , the Chief Minister’s Advisor on National Affairs Harcharan Bains said that the meeting which lasted nearly 20 minutes was fruitful.The Prime Minister assured Mr. Badal of positive action and said that he would get this issue resolved on priority.According to Mr Bains, the Chief Minister apprised Mr. Modi that inordinate delay in CCL clearance would jeopardize the ongoing procurement operations. This he said could lead to disaffection in the farming community which might lead to law and order complications. Mr. Badal also told the Prime Minister that the farming community in Punjab was passing through severe crisis due to high costs of agriculture inputs as against non remunerative Minimum Support Price (MSP). This, he said, had rendered agriculture a non-profitable venture.
“The ever decreasing margins and mounting debt on the farmers has further increased their woes, forcing more and more farmers to quit farming” he added.The Chief Minister said that the farmers faced “a tragedy of frightening proportions” because of natural calamities on the one hand and a long series of disastrous and anti farmer policies of successive Congress governments the center over the past 67 years. “For more than half a century, the brave and patriotic peasantry answered every distress call of the nation and always took pride in sacrificing everything including the priceless natural resources – soil fertility and water. Now, it is repayment time for the country. For the first time, the farmer needs his country to stand by him in his hour of extreme adversity and distress. The government must come to his rescue and repay a part of the debt which we always owe him,” said Mr. Badal.The Chief Minister was accompanied by Food and Civil Supply Minister S. Adaish Partap Singh Kairon and his Principal Secretary Mr. SK Sandhu.