The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday urged the Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to expedite the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report.

In a meeting with the PM at his residence in New Delhi, the SAD delegation led by party president, Sukhbir Singh Badal, told Modi that with the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report, farmers would be ensured of a profit margin of 50 per cent over and above the costs incurred by them.

The delegation had called on the PM to express thanks for the Union the government’s “unprecedented and decisive” initiative in exempting langars (community kitchens in Gurudwaras) from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

A SAD spokesperson said the PM at the very outset expressed his “profound appreciation” of the fact the Akali Dal is the oldest and the most dependable ally of the BJP in the entire country. “This is the oldest, the most durable and time-tested alliance and the BJP profoundly values it. The alliance signifies the social and political consensus in Punjab and elsewhere and is a symbol of peace and communal harmony throughout the country, especially in Punjab,” the PM observed in the course of the meeting with the SAD leaders, said a party press release here this afternoon.

The delegation also thanked the Prime Minister for the decision of the Union government to release Rs 800 Crore for cane growers of Punjab out of a total of Rs 8000 Crore for the entire country. This comes as a huge relief to the beleaguered peasantry in the state, the delegation told the PM.

The delegation asked the PM to set up a national committee under his own chairmanship to ensure the 550th Parkash Utsav (birth anniversary) of Guru Nanak Dev is celebrated as a major national and global event.

The delegation urged the PM to ensure that all Sikh and Punjab detenus who have been languishing in jails even after completing their sentence, in many cases lasting 20 years, should be immediately released. Keeping them in custody after the expiry of their sentence is both illegal and immoral.

The delegation requested the Prime Minister to take up with his counterpart in Pakistan the issue of a corridor of access from Dera Baba Nanak to Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, the birth place of Guru Nanak Dev.