Amarinder allowed private ‘mandis’ beyond scope of APMCs: Akali Dal

Chandigarh, Dec 26 : The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday said the double faced lies of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh have been exposed again, with revelations about how he gave directions for opening private ‘mandis’ beyond the scope of APMC mandis in the state’s Covid Response Report in September.
In a statement here, former minister Daljit Singh Cheema said it was shocking that at a time when Punjabis were combating the scourge of Covid-19, the Chief Minister was working as per the agenda dictated to him by the BJP-led Central government as well as the corporate sector.
He said the Covid Response Report had been forwarded to various departments for action and included a section calling for the need to open agricultural marketing beyond the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs).
“There can be no bigger betrayal of the farmers of the state,” Cheema said while asking the Chief Minister to come clean and tell Punjabis why he directed the Chief Secretary to open the ‘mandis’ outside the purview of the APMC.
“Let’s see you explain this perfidy,” the SAD leader said adding that Amarinder Singh had lost the moral authority to lead Punjab due to his regular and continuous betrayal of the cause of the Punjab farmers.
Asking the Chief Minister not to play a double game, Cheema said the former should know that he was the first to weaken the case of the Punjab farmer by reframing the APMC Act by making four amendments in it immediately after forming the government in 2017.