Punjab Cabinet passes resolution expressing solidarity with farmers and their demands

In view of the 'Bharat Bandh' call given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha in protest against the three farm laws, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday convened an emergency meeting of the newly re-constituted Council of Ministers in Chandigarh. The Council of Ministers passed a resolution expressing solidarity with the farmers and their demands.

Terming these laws as anti-farmer and anti-food security, Channi said that these laws are a potent threat to the livelihood of farmers and their future generations. The Chief Minister said that the earlier resolutions passed by the state Assembly in support of the farmers' demand to repeal these ‘black laws’ should be conceded by the Government of India forthwith without any further delay.

The Punjab government had earlier also categorically reiterated its commitment to the Resolutions passed by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in August and October 2020, emphasizing that all the genuine demands of the farmers must be accepted and urging the Government of India to “repeal the farm laws as Agriculture is a state subject under the Constitution of India, and to make MSP a statutory right.”

Expressing solidarity with the families of farmers who lost their lives during the ongoing agitation against the draconian farm laws, the Punjab Chief Minister stressed on the need to win over their confidence as the Congress government has always stood firmly in support of their demands from day one when the Union Government thrust these anti-farmer laws upon them.

He asked all the Ministers to personally visit the houses of the deceased farmers to deliver the appointment letters for government jobs to their family members.

Taking cognizance of the widespread resentment amongst the farmers for getting inadequate compensation in view of their land acquired by various government agencies, Channi directed the Chief Secretary to explore ways and means to rationalize the quantum of compensation to be awarded to the farmers to their satisfaction.