Ravneet Bittu slams Punjab Govt over 'tardy' paddy purchase; AAP hits back

Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu lashed out at the AAP government in Punjab on Saturday over the “tardy” paddy lifting in the state, calling it “ineffective” and “immature”.

Rejecting the accusation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has blamed the BJP-led Centre for not evacuating the foodgrain stock from Punjab, Bittu claimed that at a meeting with the Union Food Minister, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had said the state had double the space required for storing fresh crop.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said they will meet the Punjab governor for his intervention in the matter.

Meanwhile, the AAP hit back at Bittu, accusing him of lying and trying to mislead people.

Addressing the media here over the issue of slow procurement and lifting of the paddy crop, Bittu said because of the “inefficient and immature” Mann government, farmers in Punjab are facing hardships at the grain markets.

He said unlike in Punjab, paddy procurement is going on smoothly in neighbouring Haryana.

Bittu said irrespective of which political party ruled Punjab, foodgrain procurement has always been smooth in the state and blamed the AAP regime for its “complete failure” in ensuring such smooth crop purchase.

Bittu accused the Mann government of taking revenge on the people of Punjab for the AAP losing 10 of the 13 seats in the Lok Sabha polls held in April-May.

He said the Centre has already given more than Rs 44,000 crore to the Punjab government for crop purchase and added that it is ready to give more funds if the state needs it.

He alleged that the state government is “completely paralysed” as it is unable to procure the crop.

Training his guns on Mann, Bittu asked why is he not visiting any grain market. “Why did he not go to any mandi? Entire Punjab is on the roads but where is the chief minister? This is my first question to the AAP government,” he said.

Referring to the sowing of hybrid varieties of paddy seeds, Bittu said such varieties were sold at an exorbitant rate of Rs 3,500 per kg and were affected by diseases, forcing farmers to spend money on pesticides.

No agriculture university in Punjab gave any recognition to such varieties, he claimed.

Targeting Mann, Bittu asked who will compensate for the less post-milling yield of the hybrid varieties of paddy sown in the state.

Rice shellers are saying these varieties give a yield of only 62 kg per quintal as against the norm of 67 kg per quintal.

“Who will compensate, the CM saab?” he asked.

Slamming the AAP government for making false accusations against the Centre, Bittu said Mann told the Union food minister that the state had double the space required to store fresh crop.

On the evacuation of the foodgrain stock, Bittu claimed that 187 rakes of wheat and 87 rakes of rice were moved out of Punjab in one month alone.

He said 7.94 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrain have been moved out of the state.

AAP leader and Anandpur Sahib MP Malvinder Singh Kang countered Bittu and claimed that there was no issue with paddy-seed varieties.

“If there was a problem with these seeds, how could the Centre issue the cash credit limit for purchasing paddy? If there were issues related to these seeds, the Centre would not have released funds,” he said.

Kang said the PR-126 seed was developed by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and it was approved by the Centre.

He also refuted Bittu's claims about seeds sold at exorbitant rates. The approved seed stores have been selling seeds at the fixed price of Rs 56 per kg, he said.

“If Bittu heard of seeds being sold for Rs 3,500, why did he not raise the issue in June or July? Now that the Centre has been exposed, suddenly they are spreading misinformation about fake and expensive seeds,” the AAP leader said.

On the issue of slow lifting of grains, he said had the Centre evacuated 15 lakh metric tonnes every month since January, there would have been enough space for storage by September.

Kang further said the Centre held meetings with rice shellers but offered them no solution.

Paddy lifting from mandis (wholesale markets) in Punjab has been hit after the state rice millers refused to mill the paddy till their demands were met.

The rice millers have expressed concern over the out-turn ratio (post-milling yield) of the PR-126 variety and other hybrid varieties, claiming that it will cause them huge losses.