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News Desk: In a massive development over the central government’s recently-introduced agriculture reforms, the Punjab government on Tuesday introduced three Bills in the state Assembly to negate the Centre’s farm laws after over a month of vehement protest by farmers in the state, and across the country.
State finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal also introduced a Bill seeking Amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, during the special Assembly session.
Subsequently, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh moved a resolution on the floor of the state assembly over the concerns of the government against the agriculture ordinances and amendments to the Electricity Act.
Later in the day, the Punjab CM headed to the Raj Bhavan to submit the resolutions passed in the state Assembly on Tuesday.
The Congress-led Punjab administration had been looking at countering the aftereffects of the NDA government’s farm laws at the state level for some time.
“Three farm legislations, along with proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020, are clearly against the interests of farmers and landless workers, and time-tested agriculture marketing system established not only in Punjab but also in Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh… The draft resolution states that farm laws are against the Constitution (Entry 14 List-II), which mentions agriculture as a state subject and these legislations are a direct attack to encroach upon functions and powers of states, as enshrined in the Constitution,” the Chief Minister told the Assembly.
The state opposition had on Monday slammed the Captain Amarinder Singh government for not tabling the Bills on the first day of the special Assembly session. The day also witnessed a sit-in protest by Aam Aadmi Party MLAs in the House.
Several AAP MLAs even spent the night in the Assembly building after their dharna.
The state finance minister said the Punjab government is currently consulting constitutional experts on legislation issues to counter the Centre’s farm laws.
“The entire Punjab is watching what the government is doing. The legislation to counter the Centre’s farm laws should have been the first business of the House,” SAD leader Gurpratap Singh Wadala said on Monday.
Meanwhile, SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia claimed that a “fixed match is going on between the Congress government in Punjab and the Centre”.
“It seems the state government is under the Centre’s pressure,” he alleged.
