Cong demands announcement of agri-business policy in MP

Bhopal, May 28 (UNI) Leader of the Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Jamuna Devi today demanded that the state government declare an agri-business policy and take farmers into confidence prior to entering any understanding with companies.

''On the one hand, the regime organised an agri-business meet with companies that have forayed into the retail sector while on the other it is advising major companies to keep off the state's fruits, vegetables and retail business,'' she said here.

Alleging that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's statements assuring protection of retail traders' interests amounted to treachery, she doubted whether a government being financially assisted by companies in organising meets would be able to rein in major companies.

''The chief points of facilities extended to and conditions imposed on companies, with whom MoU were inked during the Meet, ought to be made public. The acreage being handed over to these companies and the time period of the deals should be disclosed by the regime,'' Ms Devi added.

UNI