Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday assured farmers in Gujarat's Bhavnagar that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governments in Punjab and Delhi will buy their onions by sending a train so that they do not have to face losses amid the prevailing situation wherein this kitchen staple is fetching low prices from traders.
Several farmers from the Bhavnagar district met Mann at the circuit house here and urged him to find a solution to their problem as prices have hit rock bottom due to a bumper yield.
Talking to farmers outside the Bhavnagar circuit house to understand their issue, Mann asked AAP's Gujarat unit president Isudan Gadhvi to take details from farmers so that the party can raise this issue in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the upcoming Parliament session next month.
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"I am also a farmer's son so I understand your pain. Please do not destroy your crop. I will inquire about onion demand in Punjab and Delhi and then lift the stock. We will send a train to transport your onions," said Mann.
According to Nikulsinh Zala, one of the farmers who met Mann, onions grown in Bhavnagar are known for their top quality but farmers are not getting a fair price due to the monopoly of wholesale traders.
"We met Mann to discuss the issues being faced by farmers of Bhavnagar due to the low prices of our products. Mann asked us to have patience and assured us that both the Punjab and Delhi governments would buy our onions and send a train to transport it to those states in the coming weeks," Zala told reporters.
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"Punjab CM assured that both the AAP governments in Punjab and Delhi will send a train to Bhavnagar to procure onions grown here. He requested us to have some patience and not throw away our produce. Mann also assured that all the five AAP MLAs will raise this issue in the Assembly during the ongoing Budget session," said another farmer, Mohan Makwana.
A few days back, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, Shaktisinh Gohil, had raised this issue claiming that farmers are getting only Rs 2 per one kg of onions at APMCs due to bumper yield.
"Onion-growing farmers of Bhavnagar and other parts of Gujarat are in great trouble. They are hardly getting Rs 2 per kg of onion. I urge both - the Centre and the Gujarat government - to immediately announce Minimum Support Price (MSP) for onions. As a relief, the government should also announce subsidies for the farmers hit by low prices," the national spokesperson of Congress had said.
