Badal demands relief package for drought-hit Punjab

Badal, who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the morning, also accused the Centre of leaving out Punjab while announcing relief packages for states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana saying this had "caused profound anguish and resentment among Punjab farmers."

"Badal sought a liberal agricultural relief package of Rs 2380 crore for the drought-hit farmers of the state," the Punjab Government said in a release.

The Chief Minister said the country at large and Punjab in particular were sitting on the brink of an agricultural emergency due to a combination of natural and human factors.

"The brave farmers of Punjab have always come to the rescue of the country in their hours of crises. It is the turn of the country now to come to their rescue," Badal told the Prime Minister.

The Punjab Chief Minister said agriculture in the country is already in the throes of "one of the worst crises in recent history and nation's bread winner is today itself facing the prospect of hunger, poverty and back-breaking indebtedness."

Badal also called for putting in place a "permanent, in-built rapid-response economic system to meet farm emergencies such as those caused by Monsoon failure, floods or other natural causes."

Accusing the Centre of ignoring Punjab, he said, "This is not the first time that farmers of the country's biggest contributor to national food kitty had been completely by-passed. Earlier also, the Centre had bypassed Punjab while announcing a package of Rs 70,000 crore for states affected by farm indebtedness and resultant suicides."

"I found it hard to believe that the Centre did not include the country's largest producer of food-grains in its calculations for relief package," he said. More