Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Thursday slammed the Leader of opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa for “misleading the people with his half baked knowledge”.
“This is high time Bajwa must bid good bye to politics as he is continuously chanting lies for hogging media limelight”, he said in a statement.
Mann said Bajwa’s statement on PR 126 variant of paddy is “completely irresponsible, baseless, irrational and misleading”.
He said experts of Punjab Agricultural University have repeatedly emphasised that as compared to long duration variety (Pusa-44), PR-126 saves 20-25 percent water during cultivation. He said it has lesser straw load (10 percent), provides 25-40 days more window period for residue management along with saving of about Rs 5000 per acre of input costs thereby immensely benefitting the farmers.
Bajwa said due to all these benefits this variety has gained high popularity among the technology-savvy farmers of the state, with he area under cultivation expanding from 13.9 to 45.0 percent over the last five years.
Rubbishing Bajwa’s claims, he said a meeting was also convened with the President of All India Rice Millers Association and its representatives on May 9,2024 at PAU, Camp office Mohali, where full satisfaction was expressed with the milling quality of PR 126 by the rice millers.
Mann said the Congress leader is just issuing “baseless statements” to “mislead” the farmers and general public.
He said the state government is committed for procuring and lifting the harvest of the farmers in a smooth and hassle-free manner.
He said the entire procurement process is going on smoothly as elaborate arrangements have been made by the state government. Mann said the state’s farmers are well aware of the dubious character of Bajwa and his party, adding that they will not fell prey to their misleading propaganda.
