Paddy procurement figures expose govt: Bhupinder Hooda

Chandigarh, November 17

Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda today opposed the closure of government procurement of paddy.

He said farmers suffered damage to crops in lakhs of hectares due to floods. “The BJP-JJP government had announced that the farmers who plant paddy again will be given incentive money. Due to this, replanting of paddy was delayed and had not reached the markets in many such districts. In Kurukshetra, Ambala, Fatehabad, and Sirsa, about 20 per cent harvesting is still pending,” he said. Hooda said the government’s figures of the paddy procurement had exposed their claims because this time it had purchased about 1.5 lakh tonnes less than the target set by itself. Not only this, compared to last year, the government had reduced the purchase by about 60,000 tonnes. He said the government had purchased 59.35 lakh tonnes last time, which had now come down to 58.70 lakh tonnes, while the government itself had set a target of 60 lakh tonnes.