‘Kurki’ goes; go-ahead to e-auction of farm produce

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 23

In a major relief to the farmers, the Assembly today scrapped “kurki”, a practice under which mortgaged land is auctioned to recover loans, by abolishing Section 67-A of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brahm Mohindra said the Congress government had fulfilled a major poll promise by doing away with “kurki”. He said Section 67-A had empowered bank officials to send auction notices to the farmers when they failed to repay the debt. Many farmers had committed suicide after receiving “kurki” notices, he added.

Mohindra said Section 67-A was incorporated during the tenure of the SAD-BJP government, adding that the Akalis falsely claimed to be the champion of farmers’ rights.

The Assembly also gave its nod to e-marketing of the farmers’ produce. This will enable private players to buy the produce directly from the farmers and sell it online. There will be a single licence valid across the state. Earlier, the registration was separate for each grain market. The buyer will now have to pay market fee at one point only.

Mohindra said the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Second Amendment) Bill, 2017, was aimed at facilitating e-marketing and e-trading. The amendment had been hanging fire for the past seven years.

50% quota for women in local bodies, panchayats

Amending the Punjab Municipal Act and the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, the Assembly approved 50 per cent representation for women in municipalities, panchayats and zila parishads. Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa said even though women constituted 47.5 per cent of the state population, they had only 33 per cent reservation in the local bodies in urban and rural areas. The amendments will lead to empowerment of more women, the ministers added.

Municipalities to keep getting grants

The Assembly passed the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Fund (Amendment) Bill, which will allow the municipalities to get requisite funds for development and routing expenses in the form of grant in-aid even after the imposition of the Punjab Goods and Service Tax (GST) Act.

Audit of PIDB funds on the cards

The Assembly approved the Punjab Infrastructure Development and Regulation (Amendment) Bill, moved by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal. The amendment necessitates that the revenue earned by the PIDB be deposited in the state treasury. Manpreet stated that during the SAD-BJP rule, the PIDB funds remained with the Board, due to which no audit of the accounts was possible. He said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had sought an audit many times, but the previous government had not agreed to it.