Chandigarh, Nov 10 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party Punjab President Kewal Singh Dhillon on Tuesday mounted a counter-offensive against the Bhagwant Mann government over its failure to manage crop residue, asserting that the Aam Aadmi Party cannot escape its four-and-a-half-year record in the state by staging press conferences to blame Delhi.
Dhillon stated that on November 4, 2022, party national convener Arvind Kejriwal publicly accepted responsibility for farm fires alongside Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking one year to resolve the crisis.
Over four years into its tenure, the Mann administration has failed to provide accessible alternatives, leaving farmers stranded.
Posing five direct questions to the AAP dispensation, Dhillon asked: Where is the bio-decomposer? What happened to the Pusa bio-decomposer heavily promoted by AAP? How many acres were sprayed, what was the state-level expenditure, and what measurable results were achieved? The Central government released Rs 2,056.50 crore to Punjab under the Crop Residue Management (CRM) Scheme up to 2025-26. Where has every single rupee been spent, and how much has actually reached farmers? The state BJP chief asked.
Where are the 94,456 CRM machines? The Agriculture Department claims 94,456 CRM machines were deployed. How many are operational, how many Custom Hiring Centres are functional, and how many marginal farmers can actually access them during the sowing window? Why no direct cash incentive? While Haryana provides Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 per acre to its farmers, why did the Punjab government fail to independently fund its promised Rs 2,500 per acre cash assistance? Why slap first information reports (FIRs) and red entries on farmers? Why is the Mann government booking small farmers under police sections and making punitive red entries in revenue records to conceal its own administrative paralysis?
Dhillon demanded an immediate, independent audit of CRM machinery funds, an immediate rollback of punitive red entries against farmers, and practical per-acre financial support.
–IANS
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