Samajwadi party supremo accuses centre of being anti-farmer

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today accused the Centre of pursuing anti-farmer policies and said a hike of Rs20 per quintal in minimum support price of wheat is insufficient.

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today accused the Centre of pursuing anti-farmer policies and said a hike of Rs20 per quintal in minimum support price of wheat is insufficient.

"This year the Centre has hiked wheat MSP by a meager Rs20 per quintal, due to which the farmers would be forced to sell their produce at the rate of Rs1120 per quintal," Yadav

said in a statement issued in Lucknow. He said that this year it was expected that the minimum support price (MSP) would be higher than Rs1500 per quintal. "This is blatant cheating of

the farmers. Policies and practices of the Centre and the state government are anti-farmers," he alleged. The SP supremo said that the Centre hiked prices of petrol and diesel several

times within a year's time, whereas the state government increased rates of power and transportation. Yadav alleged that cane, wheat and paddy farmers were being ignored and overlooked.

"While farmers are not getting remunerative price of their produce, mill owners, traders and middlemen are making profits at their cost," he said. He alleged that in the last

season, Centre announced cane price at Rs130 per quintal and the state offered an advisory price of Rs165-170 per quintal which directly benefitted the mill owners. "This year cane

price has not been announced by either of the government and it seems that they have no intention of giving even production cost to the farmers," the SP supremo alleged. "The SP

demands that cane farmers should get a price of more than Rs325 per quintal in this season," he said.