Taking serious note of the caretaker government of SAD-BJP’s inaction towards the preparations for Wheat Procurement scheduled to begin on April 1st, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today demanded that Punjab Governor should immediately call 'all parties meeting' to ensure smooth procurement of the wheat crop.State Convener of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Gurpreet Singh Waraich, Head of the Manifesto Committee Kanwar Sandhu and President of the farmers’ wing of the party, Captain GS Kang said that present incumbent government should share the detailed information on what steps it has taken so far for obtaining the Cash Credit Limit (CCL) from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for wheat procurement. They said that results of Punjab assembly polls would be declared on March 11 after that it would take at least one week for the formation of new government in the state, leaving very few days for making arrangement for the wheat procurement.“Adequate preparations for the wheat procurement is must for the agriculture based state of Punjab, so the incumbent government must reveal that what steps it took so far for the clearance of CCL to ensure that farmers should not suffer in the wheat procurement process”, they added.
AAP leaders said that it is a known fact that during the last procurement of paddy, farmers had to suffer a lot due to late release of CCL by Centre and even Chief Minister had to personally visit Delhi many a times for getting CCL, as RBI had declined the same due to alleged embezzlement of food grain worth Rs 20,000 crore by the SAD-BJP Government. Now the time is ripe that Punjab Governor should intervene to ensure prompt and appropriate steps by the incumbent government to obtain CCL timely, so that farmers should not made to suffer due to mal-practices of SAD-BJP government, they said.AAP leaders assured that the party was committed for the smooth procurement of wheat and would ensure procurement of the crop within 24 hours of its arrival and payment to farmers within 72 hours of the procurement of their crop. It is highly imperative that Governor should call all parties meeting so that appropriate arrangements could be made well in advance for the smooth procurement of the wheat, they added. “We have already sought time from Governor on the issue to give a memorandum to him”, they revealed.