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Farmer-friendly top Akali leaders
show true colors at Aarhtiya function
Gursimran Singh
BATHINDA: In a
rather blatant display of which way their sympathies lie, senior
ruling Akali Dal leaders led by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Tota Singh
and even Bharti Kisan Union faction chief Balbir Singh Rajewal
publicly opposed the proposed move to make direct payment to farmers
for the produce purchased through state and central agencies instead
of routing it through the aarhtiyas.
What was even
more shameful was that Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal was
present on the stage on March 22 in Bathinda where such anti-farmer
stance was struck by the Akali leaders and he virtually assured the
Aarhtiyas gathered there that their demand will be met and the
government will scrap the plans for direct payment to farmers.
Virtually all
the farmer bodies, including the Punjab State Farmers Commission,
had welcomed the Punjab Government's move to make payments to
farmers by cheque and straight than through the aarhtiyas and it was
being seen as a progressive and pro-farmer step. Clearly, the
aarhtiya lobby which is known to be a major election fund donor for
Akali Dal seems to have prevailed upon the powers that be.
No wonder that
the Bathinda rally, organised by who else but the aarhtiyas, ended
with the declaration of total and full support by the Punjab
Aarhtiiyas Association to the Akali Dal. Ironically, Sukhbir, while
telling the aarhtiyas that his government would make a proper
announcement only after the polls, said all efforts would be made to
ensure that the aarhtiyas and farmers remain intertwined and
interdependent. The fact that all the speakers congratulated Punjab
Aarhtiya Association president Ravinder Singh Cheema publicly after
Sukhbir Badal’s assurance was enough to prove that the farmers
cannot hope to get direct payments anymore. In any case, the direct
payment scheme was formulated during Amarinder Singh regime.
Tarsem Singh
Saini of the Punjab Rice Shellers Union also backed the aarhtiyas.
Agriculture
experts see the aarhtiyas as a menace construct now and meant only
to harrass the farmers. Aarhiyas get 2.5 percent commission on food
grains without even touching the produce, and there is simply no
rationale for letting suhc loot of farmers to continue, Punjab State
Farmers Commission member P S Rangi said.
Punjab CPI
Secretary Bhupinder Sambar said he had all along had doubts about
the intentions of the
Punjab
government. "The Badal government in its earlier avatar had
announced to give Rs 2.5 lakh to the family of each of the farmers
who had committed suicide and had kept Rs 5 crore in the budget.
After a decade, they have reduced the amount to Rs 2 lakh but it is
still to be given to even a single family of farmers who have died.
Now this is another serious blow. The government first announces
measure after years of delay and then buckles before the pressure of
the aarhtiyas within days," Sambar said.
Interestingly,
Balbir Singh Rajewal even claimed that some activists among the
farmers are working to exhort the farmers on the issue of direct
payments and are trying to turn them into Naxalites. Tota Singh too
strongly advocated that all payments must be routed through the
aarhtiyas. Incidentally, he himself is an aarhtiya.
25 March 2009
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