BHOPAL: Former minister and PCC media department chairman Jitu Patwari on Thursday alleged that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh is the biggest “anti-farmer regime”.
“The CM is now enacting a drama of distributing seeds to farmers. But when farmers required seeds of soybeans the most, then it was missing from the markets. Under compulsion, farmers had to purchase soybean seeds at whopping rates of Rs9,000 to Rs12,000,” Jitu said.
Jitu claimed there is a drought situation prevailing in the Nimar region but the chief minister has not bothered to find out about the condition of farmers there.
“In Indore and adjoining areas, farmers harvesting potatoes are distraught. Those cultivating moong are also distressed,” Jitu said. “The Narendra Modi-led Centre had promised to double the income of farmers. Incomes did not double though the cost of production of agricultural produce definitely doubled,” Jitu said.
The Congress MLA said that power tariffs in the state have increased under BJP while the erstwhile Congress government under Kamal Nath had reduced power bills of the agrarian sector by half. “Price of diesel has doubled, and so has the prices of fertilisers and seeds,” he said.
Jitu said that the government claims to work the most in the agricultural sector but there has been no appointments in the agri department. “There are 14,572 posts sanctioned for the agriculture department, while there are just 8,000 employees posted there. About 40% of the posts are lying vacant. The average income of farmers in MP is less than Rs20,000 annually. Even labourers earn more than that,” Jitu said.
