Congress slams Punjab govt for paddy procurement mess

The opposition Congress in Punjab Wednesday slammed the Punjab government for mismanagement in the procurement of paddy.

Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa, in a statement here, said that the Punjab government headed by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was responsible for the mess related to paddy procurement this year.

"It is your own government at the Centre which has curtailed the flow of finances to Punjab holding your government accountable for the mismanagement of food procurement as the state government is yet to settle the accounts. This is for the first time that Punjab is confronted with such a situation," Bajwa said.

Expressing concern over the plight of farmers, Bajwa said: "Farmers are not being paid for days. The commission agents have gone on strike due to non-payment by procurement agencies."

"It seems Badal has become so nervous at the prospects of the BJP leaving the Akali Dal in the coming days that he has stopped taking whatever little interest he earlier had in the matters of governance. After all, it is now his own government at the centre and he can't blame anybody for this chaos. This situation is unprecedented," he added.

There have been reports of differences between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Akali Dal leaders in the last three months. Both parties have been running an alliance government in Punjab since 2007.

Bajwa said that people had the right to know as to what the role of Akali Dal minister, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, in the Narendra Modi cabinet was if she could not facilitate the resolving of such problems between the centre and Punjab.

Bajwa said that Badal used to blame the previous United Progressive Alliance government at the centre for "discrimination and step-motherly treatment" but chose to remain silent about the Modi government not helping the state.