Arhtiyas service providers, not middlemen: CM

Asserting that the arhtiyas were not middlemen but service providers, he urged the PM to ensure that the livelihood of farmers and others involved in the procurement of grain was not jeorpardised. file photo

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 3

Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking continuance of the existing system of payment to farmers till a consensus was evolved on the issue of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

Asserting that the arhtiyas were not middlemen but service providers, he urged the PM to ensure that the livelihood of farmers and others involved in the procurement of grain was not jeorpardised. He sought a meeting with the PM to apprise him of the concerns raised by various stakeholders “before the situation gets out of hand,” assuring his complete support to evolving a consensus for long-term reforms.

Expressing concern over the efforts to “rock” the well-established institutional and social arrangements, the CM said he could see a pattern in some of the one-sided decisions and steps taken by the Centre.