Rejecting allegations of withdrawal of free power to Punjab’s farmers, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday said his government is ready to forego the portion of fiscal deficit enhancement offered by the Centre but would not compromise with the farmers’ interest at any cost.
Dismissing the Centre’s suggestion on replacement of free power to farmers with DBT as ‘totally unacceptable and a direct attack on the federal structure of the nation’, the Chief Minister said he will take up the issue with the Centre for trying to impose such an anti-farmer condition on the cash-strapped state in the guise of extending fiscal support amid the Covid pandemic.
