Attacking the Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal over his letter regarding the issue of direct payment to farmers, Punjab’s former Minister and senior Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday alleged that the Central Government wanted to destroy and disrupt the State’s tried and tested mandi system.

Notably, Goyal had written a letter to the Punjab Government asking it to implement a system for direct payment to farmers for crop procurement, besides asking the State Government to integrate land records available with the revenue department with the procurement portal.

Sidhu, addressing the mediapersons in Patiala, alleged that the motive of the letter was to disrupt the age-old, tried and tested, and successful mandi system that allows for the implementation of minimum support price (MSP) in the State.

It also intended to create a division between arhtiyas (commission agents) and farmers in the state, claimed the cricketer-turned-politician, while alleging that the letter is part of a larger conspiracy to stall the procurement of wheat crops in Punjab and destroy the state’s agricultural economy.

Sidhu said that according to Goyal, Punjab’s Revenue Department had all the information about the land records of the state’s farmers.

 “But according to the data collected by the National Sample Survey for year 2012-13, it shows that more than 24 percent of the land under cultivation in Punjab is under tenancy.

These tenancy contracts are oral or unwritten in nature,” he said, adding that the land under tenancy might have increased and not decreased over the years.

If the sale of wheat crop is allowed with ownership rights, then about 25 to 30 percent farmers will not receive payment for sale of their crops, he claimed.

Sidhu also accused the Centre of planning to destroy the state’s successful Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee model and also questioned the timing of the letter “as farmers prepare for cultivation of Rabi crop”.