Jalandhar, Sept 29: Three Congress ministers today asked all political parties to rise above partisan politics and unitedly fight the Centre's "assault" on farmers.
"With the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government refusing to revise Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy and relax paddy moisture specifications despite drought, it is time for all the political parties and farmers organisations of Punjab to unitedly fight Centre's indefensible and unprecedented assault on the hardworking farming community,” they said in a statement here. The Centre had also shelved the proposal to curtail 11.5 per cent levy on purchase of paddy to four per cent which would put an additional burden of Rs 750 crore on the state which is already facing its worst financial crisis, they said.

Nearly 5 lakh quintals of paddy was in state grain markets and small farmers were being forced to sell their produce at throw away prices, social security minister Santokh Singh Chaudhary, excise and taxation minister Sardool Singh and public health minister Jagjit Singh alleged in the statement.
Bureau Report