PM Modi To Address Rally In Punjab On July 11: Sukhbir Singh Badal

Chandigarh:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over a 'thanksgiving' rally at Malout in Muktsar district to mark the "unprecedented" increase in minimum support price of kharif crops, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said yesterday.

The rally will be organised jointly by the SAD and the BJP, he said in a statement in Chandigarh.

The SAD president held a meeting of party legislators and district presidents at the head office in Chandigarh in connection with the preparation of rally. He said farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan will attend this rally.

Mr Badal said the party rank and file as well as the farmers of Punjab were waiting anxiously to give a rousing welcome to the prime minister for his "bold and decisive" step to "implement the Swaminathan Commission report" which called for 50 per cent profit on input cost.

The former deputy chief minister said the rally will also witness attendance of thousands of farmers from the two neighbouring states.

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"We are confident this will be a historic occasion on which the entire farming community will come together on one platform to thank Narendra Modi for the largesse extended to the farming community," said Sukhbir Badal.

He also asked Chief Minister Amarinder Singh not to "play politics" over the "historic" increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy and other crops and acknowledge the benefit given to farmers.

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Sukhbir Badal said farmers would accrue an additional revenue of Rs 4,500 per acre due to the hike in MSP this season alone.

He said the state agricultural marketing board would net additional revenue of around Rs 200 crore by way of market fee and rural development fund.

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The SAD Chief claimed that all these facts proved that the recent hike in MSP would boost Punjab's economy. He said that besides paddy, farmers growing cotton would get an additional income of around Rs 10,000 per acre.