Call special session to revoke amended APMC Act: Sukhbir

SAD president says CM is author of a similar legislation in Punjab and continues to stand by his own anti-farmer Act

CHANDIGARH : Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday asked chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to hold a special assembly session immediately to revoke the amended State Agriculture Produce Markets Committee (APMC) Act of 2017.

In a statement, Sukhbir asked the chief minister not to practise deceit with farmers by shedding crocodile tears at their fate as he (Amarinder) was the author of a similar legislation in Punjab and continued to stand by his own anti-farmer Act. The SAD chief said the chief minister could not run with the hare and hunt with the hound, asking him to tell the farmers and ‘khet mazdoors’ why he was refusing to rescind the State APMC Act, 2017, which he implemented in Punjab as the chief minister.

Sukhbir asked Amarinder if he could show the moral courage to disassociate himself from the Congress manifesto of 2019 which called for removing the APMC Act altogether. He also said that the chief minister should apologise to the farming community for encouraging corporatisation of the farm sector by accepting the Montek Singh Ahluwalia committee report

which calls for reducing procurement of foodgrain.

Exempt Punjab from bills: Rebel AAP MLAs

Rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to exempt Punjab from implementation of the newly enacted farm laws. In a joint letter to Modi, five MLAs – Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Kanwar Sandhu, Jagdev Singh Kamalu, Jagdev Singh Hissowal and Pirmal Singh Khalsa – said the state should be exempted from implementation of the three laws under Article 371 of the Constitution. Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa and six of the seven north-eastern states were granted special status under special provisions from time to time, they said, citing the example of Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to J&K till about a year ago.

“If these 11 states can be granted special provisions, we are very sure Punjab, and even Haryana, can definitely be exempted or excluded from the implementation of the said laws that these states strongly feel are against their agrarian economy,” they wrote.