Says draft of policy is ready, will be finalised after due deliberations with food growers
Punjab Newsline, Chandigarh, September 5-
Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann on Thursday assured the farmers that the state government is committed to safeguard their interests and new agriculture policy will be a step forward in this direction.
During meeting with delegation of BKU (Ugrahan) and Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, the Chief Minister said that the draft of the Punjab Agriculture Policy is ready but will be finalised only after due deliberations with food growers. He said that the draft will be shared with the farmers by September 30 and their suggestions will be sought on the policy. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the suggestions of the farmers will be duly incorporated in the policy as state government does not want to impose anything on the food growers rather it is committed to consult them for making agriculture a profitable venture.
Dwelling on another agenda, the Chief Minister further said that the state government is also mulling to introduce a One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme to offer much-needed relief to debt-ridden farmers who have been struggling to repay loans to cooperative banks.