Roll back crop insurance scheme or face stir: Hooda

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala September 30

Congress leaders led by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today took out a protest march seeking a roll back of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. While addressing the gathering outside the deputy commissioner’s office, Hooda alleged the scheme was being forcibly implemented and farmers cheated. He said the government should either roll back the scheme or face stir.

Former Finance Minister Nirmal Singh submitted a memorandum addressed to the Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki to the additional deputy commissioner.

Later, speaking to mediapersons, Hooda said, “We have no objection with the crop insurance scheme, but we do not agree with the style of its implementation. The crop has already begun to reach the market without the crop cutting experiment being done.”

He said, “The government has been misleading the people of the state. According to an RTI, only three large and medium units with an investment of 494.55-crore were setup providing jobs to 376 people in 2015-16 while not a single unit was setup this year. Besides this, the Haryana State Industry and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) gave only two jobs in two years.”

Former Finance Minister HS Chattha, former HPCC chief Phool Chand Mullana, Kailasho Saini and several other congress leaders were also present on the occasion.