Government to stop economic killing of the farmers:Ch Pervaiz Elahi

Lahore: Pakistan Muslim League (PML) senior central leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Ch Parvez Elahi has emphasized upon the govt to stop economic murder of the farmers, rulers should not snatch away meals from mouths of their children, during our govt in Punjab we had provided revolutionary facilities to the farmers including cheap electricity, fertilizer, seed, loans and tax exemption which were abolished by Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, their enmity with the farmers was not ending, now wheat crisis was surfacing and the farmers will not get full price for wheat also, power rate for agriculture in Punjab was many times more than other provinces, those who had voted for N-League were not only being lathi-charged but also sent to jails, we will always stand with the farmers.
Ch Parvez Elahi while addressing a press conference convened to express solidarity with the farmers along with Senior Vice-President Muhammad Basharat Raja, Provincial General Secretary Ch Zaheeruddin Khan, Provincial Information Secretary Mian Imran Masood, Mian Munir, Shaikh Umar Hayat, Mian Abdul Sattar and other leaders said further that anti-farmers measures of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif had become intolerable, seven years ago due to historical facilities given during our tenure agriculture growth rate in Punjab was 3 per cent which had now been reduced to 1 per cent, majority of country’s population was associated with agriculture in which agriculture of Punjab was like back bone, under well-conceived plan potato, tomatoes and vegetables were being imported from India as a result of which this market will go to India permanently, here prices of fertilizer and agriculture medicines had been increased enormously and provision of loan for tractors had also been stopped, our package of electricity at half price to farmers has been scrapped and laboratories established by us for preparation of new seed had also been closed down, no new rice seed has been introduced after 2002, production cost of rice per acre was Rs 80 thousand whereas income was only Rs 40 thousand and cotton income was Rs 2200 and cost of production was Rs 3000, last year the govt had promised to procure 30 lakh tons of wheat but had procured 20 lakh tons of wheat, wheat was lying in the godowns while India was exporting to Afghanistan, in these circumstances govt procurement price of wheat do not seem to be going higher than Rs 900, there was virtually no subsidy for farmers here as compared to India and other countries, in Japan on average subsidy of 46 billion dollar was being given which was 20 billion dollars in USA, 22. 6 billion in Turkey and India 37 billion whereas it was only 26 billion in Pakistan, there was no GST in India on agriculture while in Pakistan there was 25 per cent GST on agricultural inputs.
He said that Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif regarded farmers of Punjab as low caste, we had provided subsidy to farmers on fertilizer and seed, electricity price was cut to half, 650 kilometers water courses were concreted as a result of which water reached the tail end, ensured procurement of every single grain of wheat from the farmers, 45 small dams were constructed for bringing barren land under cultivation, laser land levelers were provided down to union council level, Punjab Agricultural Marketing Company was established was searching new markets for food-grains, farmers owning less than twelve and half acres of land were exempted from income tax, thousands of acres of land was distributed among landless farmers, despite pressure from IMF mark up agricultural credits was not allowed to increase more than 5 per cent but now all these facilities were no more there, the farmers who had voted for N-League their children were being punished for this wrong decision and those farmers were also being punished who had not voted for N-League.
Ch Parvez Elahi emphatically stated that we had done a lot for the farmers during our tenure and “now as the opposition party will also surely do for them whatever we can”.