Punjab-Centre stand-off

  • Punjab Congress MLAs, ministers, MPs sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on October 4 to highlight the state’s issues.
WHY SO?
  • The dharna was led by CM Amarinder Singh.
  • It was a mark of symbolic protest against Centre for the crisis being faced by Punjab due to suspension of goods train traffic leading to disruption of coal, fertilizers and other essential items supplies, non-payment of RDF and farm laws. 
  • The immediate provocation was the President not giving time to a delegation of the state government for a meeting. 
  • The CM said if the President was not willing to give them a hearing they had no option but to sit on a dharna to highlight issues affecting the state.
WHY DID THE CM WANT TO LEAD A DELEGATION TO THE PRESIDENT?
  • The state Assembly had passed four Bills to negate Centre’s farm laws (1) (2) (3). 
  • The state’s Bills needed assent from the President. 
  • The CM had written to the President seeking his time soon after the Vidhan Sabha passed the Bills. 
  • But the President’s office wrote back saying the Bills were still with the Governor and hence there was no point in him meeting the state delegation. 
  • The CM said that he did not want to meet the President only for the Bills but also to highlight Punjab’s issues about the “Centre giving the state a step-motherly treatment”.

ISSUES CONFRONTING PUNJAB

  • The state has not received its GST compensation worth Rs.10,000 crore since March. 
  • After the Vidhan Sabha negated Centre’s laws, the Centre has refused to pay Rural Development Fund worth Rs.1,000 crore on procurement of paddy during the ongoing procurement season. 
  • The Centre has also suspended trains to the state affecting supplies of coal, fertilizers, vegetables, bardana, and transport of raw material of the industries, in light of the protests by farmers.
WHY HAS GOODS TRAINS SERVICE STAYED SUSPENDED EVEN AFTER FARMERS EASING RAIL ROKO PROTESTS?
  • The Centre has been saying that the farmers are sitting on railway platforms and threatening the security of the trains. 
  • The farmers have announced that they would leave the premises of railway stations and sit on greenbelts outside the stations now. 
  • But the Centre wants all the lines to be cleared including the two private lines entering two private thermal plants in Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo. 
  • The farmers have not budged from there. 
  • This is being seen as a reason for the deadlock between centre and the state.


SOURCE: IE

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