Border area farmers, bizmen demand sops to raise income

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 21

Ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1, farmers and industrialists of border area of the district have demanded special schemes in the Budget to raise farmers’ income and employment opportunities.

They feel that it will address the drug-addiction problem in the region.

Rattan Singh Randhawa, a farmer leader, said, keeping in view the trends shown by the past Budgets of the Narendra Modi-led government, they expected the upcoming Budget to be pro-corporate and oblivious of farmers’ needs.

He said the government was withdrawing subsidies from fertilisers, seeds, pesticide and insecticides. Their prices had risen during the past few years. This had led to a rise in input cost of farmers, while there was no guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP), except on wheat and paddy. The BJP had promised in its poll manifesto to implement the Swaminathan Commission recommendations after coming to power, but nothing had been done on this front.

Raman Gupta, a leading pharmaceutical exporter, said, 6,521 items were exported from the state. He anticipated extending a helping hand and encouragement to seasoned exporters to increase exports. He said the exporters were seeking revival of the Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme.

Various issues such as identification of products to be exported to various markets, challenges faced by exporters in border cities and rising logistics cost needed to be taken up, he said.

Exporters of basmati have also demanded a special incentive on the product sent to Arabian countries from here.

The city is also a manufacturing hub of printing and packaging industries, textile, winter textile, wood screw, nail, imitation jewellery and many more items, whose manufacturers want a government support in the February 1 Union Budget.

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