Budget 2017-18 is anti-farmers : Ch Pervaiz Elahi

Lahore : PML-Q senior central leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Ch Pervaiz Elahi terming the new federal budget as anti-people has said that N-League government instead of providing relief is continuously giving pains to all segments including the poor, farmers, workers and traders, increase in salary and pension of government servants is very low as compared to price hike day by day, Nawaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar should stop pleasing Indian farmers, rulers Kisan packages are false which have been reduced to patwari packages, they will not get anything even from new budget and electricity prices will also not come down.

In a statement issued here today (Friday), he strongly condemned oppression and violence on peaceful farmers protesting for solution of their problems and rights on budget day in Islamabad and said that peaceful protest is right of everyone but the rulers are dead drunk in power, there was no justification for brutal violence, lathi charge and tear gassing as well as arrests of the farmers, who are backbone of the national economy the rulers have once again proved that N-League government is enemy of the farmers whereas when how a country can be prosperous when its farmers are not prosperous.

He said Nawaz Sharif has only one motto “Modi friendship” and he does not want to annoy Modi in any manner, this the reason that import of India’s tomatoes, potatoes and other food items is being promoted and economic murder of own farmers being committed by providing them costly electricity and other items and this we will not tolerate in any case, the government should discard its anti-farmers tactics and should refrain from policies which are destroying the farmers.

Ch Pervaiz Elahi further said that during our government we had opened doors of incentives for farmers also like other segments of the society, exempted tax on twelve and half acres, 50 per cent bill of agricultural tube-well was paid by Punjab Government, water was provided till tail, got concrete courses constructed and farmer’s crop was still in the field when it was procured by the government, the government was more worried than the farmer about his crop.