Rejig MSP panel, don't ignore Punjab, Bhagwant Mann writes to PM Modi

Chandigarh, July 22

Seeking due representation to Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday urged PM Narendra Modi to reconstitute the committee on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

In a letter to PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar, the CM said, “It is ironical that the state which has most successfully implemented the MSP system has been kept out of the crucial committee.”

Referring to the recently-constituted committee, CM Mann pointed out that experts and senior officers from various states had been included as members, but none from Punjab. The CM claimed Punjab contributed 35-40 per cent of wheat and 25-30 per cent of rice to the central pool during the last decade. He said nearly 60-62 million tonne of grain produced in the state was distributed every year to about 800 million people in the country at subsidised rates under the National Food Security Act, 2013.

CM Mann underlined that keeping in view the key role of Punjab in ushering in the green revolution and making the country grain-surplus, due representation must be given to the state by reconstituting the panel.