category Regional, sangrur, , tags Regional, sangrur, , DW BUREAU Sangrur Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said his government will bear the burden on account of the value reduction imposed by the Centre on wheat crops damaged due to untimely rains. He was addressing a gathering after unveiling the statue of eminent freedom fighter Comrade Teja Singh Sutantar, as per an official release. The chief minister said farmers have suffered huge loss due to incessant rains but the indifferent Centre has not done anything to bail them out. Rather, he said, to rub salt into wounds of farmers, the Centre imposed a cut on the damaged, slightly damaged, shrivelled and broken grains along with the crops with high moisture content. Mann said the limit of shrivelled and broken grains has been relaxed up to 18 per cent under uniform specifications. The value cut is not applicable on wheat having shrivelled and broken grains up to 6 per cent whereas value cut of Rs 5.31 per quintal will be deducted on wheat with shriveled and broken grains above 6 per cent and up to 8 per cent. Further, he said the value reduction of Rs 10.62 per quintal will be deducted on wheat having shrivelled and broken grains above 8 to 10 per cent whereas Rs 15.93 per quintal will be deducted on shrivelled and broken grains above 10 to 12 per cent. Mann said in an arbitrary decision the Centre has further decided to impose value cut of Rs 21.25 per quintal on wheat having shrivelled and broken grains above 12 per cent and up to 14 per cent. Also, Rs 26.56 per quintal will be deducted on wheat having shrivelled and broken grains above 14 and up to 16 per cent. Value cut of Rs 31.87 per quintal will be implemented on wheat having shrivelled and broken grains above 16 to 18 per cent. The chief minister further said as per decision of the Centre, value cut is not applicable on wheat having luster loss grains up to 10 per cent. A value cut of Rs 5.31 per quintal will be imposed on wheat having luster loss grains above 10 to 80 per cent. On one hand, the Centre has also not released the share of state under goods and services tax and rural development fund adding that much to the dismay of the state, now this decision has been imposed on the farmers who were already in crisis due to inclement weather. Mann said the state is with the farmers in this grave situation and the Punjab government will bear the entire expenditure for the loss being suffered by the farmers due to the value cut implemented by the Centre. (editor dailyworld.in)