Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal demands Rs 4,420 per quintal for cotton MSP

CHANDIGARH: Dubbing the hike in cotton MSP as inadequate and unjustified, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today sought Rs 4,420 per quintal of MSP for the crop to compensate increase in input cost.

The Centre had yesterday hiked the cotton Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 3,600 a quintal for medium staple and Rs 3,900 per quintal for long staple.

In a statement here, the Chief Minister said the new cotton MSP for the year 2012-13 was much below the expectation of the farmers termed it as a cruel joke with "distressed" cotton growers.

"The state government has been constantly pleading the case of Punjab's beleaguered peasantry that was in shambles and demanded MSP of at least Rs 4,420 per quintal of cotton from the Government of India to boost cotton production and crop diversification," he said.

The Chief Minister accused procurement agency Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) of not procuring crop aggressively in Punjab and as a result of which farmers are forced to sell crop below the market price.

He said CCI was operating merely in 27 designated mandis and Centre had so far paid no heed to repeated requests to direct it to operate in all mandis to ensure remunerative returns to farmers.

Badal also said that the cotton prices were likely to dip when the arrival starts picking up during the months of December and January.

He said that it was unfortunate that the prevailing market prices of cotton were much below than the prices fetched by the farmers two years ago when it ranged between Rs 5,500 and Rs 6,500 per quintal.

Meanwhile, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal who is also President of Shiromani Akali Dal rejected the MSP of cotton and demanded it to be refixed at Rs 4,420 per quintal as demanded by the Punjab government.