Punjab against high import price

Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal has sought a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the issue of importing wheat at a higher price of $317-$330 per tonne.

"Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has sought a meeting with PM Manmohan Singh for taking up the matter of importing wheat from other countries at a much higher price rather than buying from domestic market," Media Advisor to the Chief Minister HS Bains said here on Saturday. Punjab is a leading wheat producing state.

"We will object to the Union government's decision of importing wheat from global buyers at a very high price in the meeting with PM," said Bains.

The Centre has recently decided to buy 5.11 lakh tonne of wheat from global buyers including Cargill, Toepfer and Riaz at a price ranging between $317 and $330 per tonne. The government gives Rs 850 per quintal as minimum support price to its farmers.

However, the State Trading Corporation had earlier scrapped a tender it floated to import wheat, saying the quoted price of 263 dollars per tone was high.

The decision now to import the grain at a price of $317-$330 per tonne has raised a sort of political storm as BJP, the principal Opposition party in Parliament, yesterday demanded a CBI probe into wheat import. BJP had also sought the resignation of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

Incidentally, the ruling party in Punjab - the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) - is a part of BJP-led NDA alliance at the Centre.

"BJP demands a CBI probe into Rs 1,200 crore wheat import scam. More and more details are coming to fore, confirming our suspicion that the import is a big scandal," BJP spokesman Prakash Javedekar told a press conference here yesterday.

The media advisor to the CM said the state government would impress upon the PM to buy wheat from state farmers rather than resorting to import.

"We will present a complete details of facts and figures relating to wheat production and its current situation in the state so that the Union government could be urged to procure wheat from Punjab rather than going for import," he said.

"It would be prudent on the part of Union government to offer high price to domestic wheat growers instead of procuring wheat from other countries at a much high price," he said.