Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government never cared for kisans in MP, says Congress
BHOPAL: State Congress under its campaign “15 years of BJP rule Vesrus 9-month of Kamal Nath’s rule” said on Sunday that while the erstwhile BJP government had carried out firing on farmers when they asked for remunerative prices for their produce, Nath after assuming office of the chief minister instantly waived loans of up to Rs2 lakh.
The ruling party alleged that former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had also promised loan waiver for farmers of up to Rs50,000 but never cared to fulfil the promise.
State Congress media cell vice-president Abhay Dubey said six farmers were killed in police firing during an agitation in Mandsaur and the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission has revealed that the farmers were fired upon in Raisen during a similar agitation with AK-47 rifles.
Dubey further alleged that fake figures of agricultural growth during Shivraj’s regime was also exposed by the statistics department of the state government and land holding among farmers is consistently on the decline.
“The agriculture census report of the Union government published on September 24, 2018, reveals that 11.31 lakh farmers gave up agriculture in the state from the 2011 to 2016 and land under cultivation also shrank by 1.66 lakh hectares”, Dubey said.
Congress also alleged that the Shivraj Singh-led BJP government did not take any initiatives for the GI tagging (patent) of Basmati rice under pressure from the Narendra Modi government at the Centre though he had staged a dharna against erstwhile Congress government on the same issue.
“After the Congress government was formed in the state last year, the Union government reduced the supply of fertilisers to MP and only after chief minister Kamal Nath’s stay in Delhi for four days that normal supply was restored”, Dubey said.
Congress said that the Kamal Nath government not only waived loans of up to Rs2 lakh from farmers, but also reduced their power bills by half. An elaborate plan to divide the state in agro-climatic zones and establish agro-processing units accordingly is also being worked out.
Dubey further said that tap water scheme for 14,000 villages is under implementation at a whopping cost of Rs1,196.87 crore.
