Parliamentarians of Congress party from Punjab today exposed the loot of potato growers happening in the country by demonstrating outside the Parliament House at New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President and Lok Sabha MP Mr. Sunil Jakhar said that due to the demonetization declared by the Modi government two year ago, the potato growers of the country had lost more than Rs. 50 thousand crores so for.Apart from Mr. Jakhar, Mr. Santokh Chaudhary, Mr. Gurjit Singh Aujla, Mr. Ravneet Singh Bittu and the members of Parliament from Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pardesh also joined him to raise the voice for potato growers.Addressing the media personals outside the Parliament House, Mr. Jakhar said that the market prices of potato are even below the actual cost of crop production while Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi publicizing at every forum that his government will double the farmers’ income by 2022.Mr. Jakhar said that the Prime Minister, who has dreamed of making a cash-free India, has now busy in making farmer free India by his anti-farmer policies, which will prove to be a big tragedy for the future of this country, as any nation can not progress without farmers.Mr. Jakhar said that yesterday the Prime Minister had gone to Jalandhar in Punjab, which is famous for potato production across the country, but neither his own people nor his partner SAD (Shiromani Akali Dal) president Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal has awared him the actual plight of the potato growers.
Sunil Jakhar asked that there is no place in the cold stores to store potatoes; the market price is quite low, so where does the farmer go?Mr. Jakhar said that in Punjab 98 thousand hectares of potato is being cultivated, out of which half of the crop is produced as seed. Cost of 1 kg Potato production for vegetable purpose is Rs 6, while it costs Rs 9 when farmer grow it to use as seed for next crop, but at present, the potato is being sold from two to four rupees per kg in the market. He said that the potato produced for seed in Punjab is sent to all the potato producing states of country, but due to its high price, the farmers use their own seeds, which reduces the production and the seed producers also have forced to be sold it even more cheaply. He demanded a subsidy of one thousand rupees per quintal for the potato seed and beneficial value of the potato crop for farmers from Government of India.Mr. Jakhar said that Congress party wants to raise all these issues of farmers in Parliament but the BJP led NDA Government is not ready to discuss the issues of farmers in house, so they have to take the problem of their farmers by demonstrating outside the Parliament. He said that the Prime Minister wants to get power again by keeping farmers in illusion of doubling their income by 2022. “However, farmers can not wait till 2022, as the farmers immediately need proper prices for their crops and also get relief from debt,” he added.