Badal seeks PM's intervention in solving foodgrain procurement

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought his intervention in resolving issues pertaining to foodgrain procurement cost and reimbursement, especially with regard to the cash-credit limit.
The Chief Minister, who met the Prime Minister at his Race Course Road residence, apprised him of the problems faced by the states in procuring foodgrains on behalf of the Centre.
He claimed the states were not being reimbursed on time, leading to a huge gap between money spent and reimbursed.
The Prime Minister has already constituted a high-level committee comprising officers of both the state and central governments to resolve these issues at the earliest, a Punjab government statement said.

Badal earlier met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and urged him to put in place a permanent mechanism for reimbursing the entire expenditure incurred by states in procuring foodgrains.
The Chief Minister said state governments procured foodgrains for the national pool but there was a vast difference between the expenses incurred and costs reimbursed by central agencies.

He urged Jaitley to find a permanent solution to this so that states do not face such problems.
The Chief Minister also batted for settlement of all previous issues regarding cash-credit limit so that farmers of Punjab do not face hardship.
Punjab has been in a financial crisis due to huge borrowings from banks which have now refused to lend more money. The state is yet to verify its accounts with central procurement agencies.

He also called for effectively sealing the state's borders for checking infiltration and sought intensification of vigilance along the border to avoid incidents like Pathankot and Dina Nagar terror attacks.
Badal also said the Centre must generously allocate funds for modernisation of state police force.
Taking strong exception to "branding" of Punjabis as drug addicts, the Chief Minister said though not even a single ounce of drug was produced in the state, still some forces "inimical to the state were hell-bent upon labelling Punjabis as drug addicts".
He said that Punjab was on transit route of drug smuggling so it was fighting the nation's war against drugs.

Taking a veiled dig at Congress and AAP, Badal said though the state government has launched a vigorous campaign to check drug peddling, "certain political parties, with vested political interests, were labelling the entire state as that of drug addicts".
In the last three years, the government has announced
Rs 2,000 crore to offer cheaper credit to set up food processing units, excise duties have been reduced, subsidies have been offered to set up food parks, and cold storage chains, she explained.
"We have already facilitated 20 cold storages, and a 100 more have expressed interest in setting up. We are creating a cold chain grid to reduce food wastage," she said.

The government has also cleared 37 food parks, of which six have already been made operational and four more will be inaugurated this year, Badal said.
"All the 37 will be operational in 18-24 months," she added.