AAP govts in Punjab, Delhi will procure onions from you, don't throw them away: Mann tells farmers
Bhavnagar, Feb 26: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday assured farmers in Gujarat's Bhavnagar that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governments in Punjab and Delhi will buy their onions by sending a train so that they do not have to face losses amid the prevailing situation wherein this kitchen staple is fetching low prices from traders.
Several farmers from Bhavnagar district met Mann at the circuit house here and urged him to find a solution to their problem as prices have hit rock bottom due to a bumper yield.
Talking to farmers outside Bhavnagar circuit house to understand their issue, Mann asked AAP's Gujarat unit president Isudan Gadhvi to take details from farmers so that the party can raise this issue in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the upcoming Parliament session next month.
"I am also a farmer's son so I understand your pain. Please do not destroy your crop. I will inquire about onion demand in Punjab and Delhi and then lift the stock from here. We will send a train to transport your onions," said Mann.
According to Nikulsinh Zala, one of the farmers who met Mann, onions grown in Bhavnagar are known for their top quality but farmers are not getting the fair price due to the monopoly of wholesale traders.
"We met Mann to discuss the issues being faced by farmers of Bhavnagar due to low prices of our produce. Mann asked us to have patience and assured us that both the Punjab and Delhi government would buy our onions and send a train here to transport it to those states in the coming weeks," Zala told reporters.
"Punjab CM assured that both the AAP governments in Punjab and Delhi will send a train to Bhavnagar to procure onions grown here. He requested us to have some patience and not to throw away our produce. Mann also assured that all the five AAP MLAs will raise this issue in the Assembly during the ongoing Budget session," said another farmer, Mohan Makwana.
A few days back, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, Shaktisinh Gohil, had raised this issue claiming that farmers are getting only Rs 2 per one kg of onions at APMCs due to bumper yield.
"Onion-growing farmers of Bhavnagar and other parts of Gujarat are in great trouble. They are hardly getting Rs 2 per one kg of onion. I urge both - the Centre and the Gujarat government - to immediately announce Minimum Support Price (MSP) for onions. As a relief, the government should also announce subsidies for the farmers hit by low prices," the national spokesperson of Congress had said.
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Kumaraswamy to visit Andrew Yule's tea gardens in Assam soon
Guwahati(PTI): Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday said he would soon visit tea gardens, owned by public sector enterprise Andrew Yule, to revive its estates as workers are facing immense hardship.
Kumaraswamy, the minister of steel and heavy industries, thanked Assam Industries Minister Bimal Borah for apprising him of various challenges being faced by the tea gardens and the need to support the management to alleviate suffering of workers.
"We are concerned about the economic challenges and hardship of the tea gardens owned by Andrew Yule Group in Assam and its impact on the wage earners," Kumaraswamy said at a press conference here.
The tea garden wage earners will also get a 20 per cent Durga Puja bonus, like workers of other gardens, he said.
Referring to his recent visit to the Cement Corporation of India Ltd factory at Bokajan in Karbi Anglong district, Kumaraswamy said there was a plan for the revival of the cement industry in the state by investing Rs 700 crore.
He also emphasised on the need for a cement manufacturing unit in the northeastern states.
On the current development of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) policy utilisation in Assam, the union minister said more than Rs 2,000 crore would be invested for battery charging stations and nearly 70,000 such facilities will be set up across the country.
More than 18,000 e-buses will also be purchased to fulfil the goal of carbon emission reduction, Kumaraswamy added.
