With the general election around the corner, a war of words has ensued between Union Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
The flashpoint is the Punjab Chief Minister’s letter (February 28) to the Union Minister raising concerns on omission of the state from the Centre’s Operation Green scheme.
The scheme, TOP, has been devised to contain the annual price distress of tomato, onion and potato in regions of high production.
Harsimrat has responded with a letter to the CM wondering why the state had got active now when the general election is here, saying the scheme had been in vogue from December 2018.
In her correspondence, she raised concern at the state “deliberately not availing benefits” under the scheme displaying neglect for farmers.
“In the reply letter, I have questioned the efficiency of the government and its officials concerned in being ignorant of the guidelines under the scheme,” Harsimrat said on Wednesday, while sharing details of the epistolary exchanges.
“The Chief Minister’s letter is politically motivated in view of the general election,” she said, urging him to desist from “political chicanery”.
She said the scheme was devised for top producing states. “Under the original guidelines, Punjab cannot be included as it is not among the top producers in tomato, onion and potato. However, they were amended to allow even other states to avail benefits as hand-holding gesture, but the state did not avail them,” she added.
She alleged that the state government had been ignoring the implementation of Central schemes. She referred to the roadblocks to AIIMS, Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme and the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. She was critical of the state government for creating roadblocks in operationalisation of a food park in Ladhowal.
She said in spite of the bottlenecks created by the state government, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries kept its attention on the welfare of Punjab. “As many as 41 major projects had been allotted to the state. Central help has been provided to the state of Rs 1,500 crore as grant,” she said.
