Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Thursday slammed the Leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa for misleading the people with his ‘half baked knowledge’.
“This is the high time Bajwa must bid good bye to politics as he is continuously chanting lies for hogging media limelight”, said the Chief Minister in a statement.
The Chief Minister said that Bajwa’s statement on PR 126 is completely irresponsible, baseless, irrational and misleading. He said that experts of Punjab Agricultural University has repeatedly emphasised that as compared to long duration variety (Pusa 44), PR 126 saves 20-25 per cent water. Likewise, Bhagwant Singh Mann said that it has lesser straw load (10%), 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.
The Chief Minister said that due to all these benefits this variety has gained high popularity among the technology savy farmers of the state with expansion of area from 13.9 to 45.0 per cent during last five years. Rubbishing claims of Bajwa, he said that 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. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the Congress leader is just issuing baseless statements mislead the farmers and general public.
The Chief Minister said that the state government is committed for procuring and lifting the harvest of the farmers in a smooth and hassle free manner. He said that the entire procurement process is going on smoothly as elaborate arrangements have been made by the state government. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that farmers of state are well aware of the dubious character of Bajwa and his party adding that they will not fell prey to their misleading propaganda.