Punjab whitefly menace: Day after he was heckled by farmers, MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder puts blame on agriculture dept

The cotton farmers had booed at Bhunder and Dhillon before they could speak and also threw seed packets and paper bills at them. The two scurried for cover and were escorted to the PAU research centre where they remained for an hour. Later, they made a quick exit amid sloganeering farmers.

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“I am not at all angry with the farmers, their crop had been damaged due to poor quality of insecticides and seeds. When someone puts the blame on them for crop damage, it will certainly hurt them. I am one among them and I feel that the state and the central government governments should realise that farmers are going through a tough phase.”

Significantly, cotton crop was sold at Rs 6,000 per quintal five years ago; this year the early varieties are not fetching not more than Rs 3,600 per quintal, said the Rajya Sabha MP.

Coming down heavily on the agriculture department, which is headed by SAD Minister Tota Singh, Bhunder said, “Besides removing Director, Agriculture, Mangal Singh Dhillon from his post, his entire team that was involved in purchase of pesticides should be suspended. The purchase of pesticides was not the decision of one person but of the entire team.”

He claimed that the agriculture department was at “200 per cent fault” this time as “no sampling of insecticides used by cotton farmers was done, and they woke up once the disease had spread in the area”.

“If the samples taken from sealed boxes of pesticides and insecticides have failed, then an FIR should be lodged against the company concerned, and if the sample of an open bottle has failed, than the dealer selling it should be booked. They should be given exemplary punishment.”

Bhunder also referred to the speech of Director, Research, PAU at Bathinda who spoke right before Bhunder and categorically said that the farmers did not follow the instructions of PAU that led the whitefly pest attack on cotton crop.

“The comments of Director, Research, PAU irked the farmers and hence they showed their anger.”

He also pointed fingers at the Centre. “When the power to determine the price of the crop is with the Centre, the decision related to procurement and other factors is with the Centre, then the state cannot do much.

I strongly urge the Centre to at least take this year’s crop failure into account and bail out the farmers.”