Days after farmers blocked the National Highway in Kurukshetra demanding minimum support price (MSP) for sunflower crop, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said that some farmer unions and political leaders are defaming the name of farmers by misleading them.

“Blocking highways is not the solution to everything. In a democracy, we can’t hinder anyone’s freedom. We have done a lot for the farmers. We held positive talks with the farmers. The court order also said that the matter should be resolved amicably. The police followed the court’s decision. I urge the farmers that this agitation is not going to help them anyway. The decision would be taken as per the market rate,” said the CM while addressing a press conference.

He said the state government will soon take a positive decision for the sunflower farmers after a detailed study about the market rate of the crop.

After releasing an amount of Rs 29,13,12, 000 as ‘interim bharpai’ (reimbursement) to 8528  sunflower farmers for an area of 36414 acres, the CM said some people are trying to create confusion among the farmers claiming that his government does not care for the farmers.

“I would like to clarify and even challenge that be it Centre or State government the kind of pro-farmer friendly policies we have launched and the financial aid we are giving is nowhere in comparison with the previous governments,” said Khattar.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done remarkable work for the welfare of farmers. Increasing MSP every year is a clear indicator that the Prime Minister-led centre government is pro-farmer friendly, the CM added.

While clarifying the ongoing issue between the sunflower farmers and the government regarding MSP, Khattar said: “When we procured the Millet on MSP, later it was found that the farmers of other states are also selling their Millet crops in our Mandis.”

“This created an issue of interstate smuggling. Now a similar possibility is arising in the sunflower procurement,  so as a precaution, we have announced the interim bharpai, as the market rates keep fluctuating.”

“At present, the procurement of sunflower is being done at Rs  4800, while Punjab is procuring the same at Rs 4000-4200. So we doubt that Punjab  farmers will also procure their crop in our mandis,” he added.

The CM said till now, Rs 23,500 Crore has been  given to farmers as subsidy and compensation. Comparing the compensation amount given during the present government tenure and Congress, Khattar said his government has given an amount of Rs  9790 Crore as compensation, while in Congress tenure, the amount was Rs 1158 crore.

“Unlike Congress, we never gave compensation cheques worth Rs 2. We ensure a minimum compensation of Rs 500 to farmers,”  he said.

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