The decision to implement universal carton is commendable: Congress

7th State Finance Commission Chairman Nand Lal and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mohan Lal Brakta have welcomed the decision of the state government to implement the universal carton system for the sale of apples from this season. He said that universal carton was a long pending demand of apple growers which has been fulfilled by the present Congress government and this decision of the government will ensure adequate benefits to the apple growers.
Nand Lal and Mohan Lal Brakta said that the present state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Thakur Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has taken many decisions in the interest of farmers and gardeners so that they can be economically empowered. He said that for the first time in the history of Himachal Pradesh, sale of apples on kilogram basis has been started from the last season. Along with this, the state government had made a historic increase in the support of apple by one and a half rupees to Rs 12 per kg in the last season. Both of them said that the present state government has given great relief to lakhs of apple growers of the state by restoring the subsidy on pesticides and fertilizers, which was stopped during the tenure of the previous BJP government.
Both of them said that BJP is an anti-farmer and anti-gardener party. BJP had promised in the Lok Sabha elections that the import duty on foreign apples would be doubled, but on the contrary, the BJP government at the Center reduced it to 35 percent, which has caused a bitter blow to the gardeners of the state. He said that due to the entry of foreign apples in the market, Himachal Pradesh’s apple economy worth Rs 5 thousand crores has come into crisis for which the BJP government at the Center is responsible. He said that the gardeners are not getting fair prices even for the apples kept in cold stores. Today, due to arrival of foreign apples, apple growers of the state are facing a loss of Rs 800 to 1200 per box.