Chandigarh, Oct 22 (Reporter) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of being directly responsible for the plight of the farmers in the Mandis and said they were suffering for having responded to the CM'S appeal and sown early varieties of paddy which were now not being procured. Briefing newspersons about the proceedings of the Core Committee whose meeting was held under the Chairmanship of the party’s Working President Balwinder Singh Bhunder, senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said “Both the Chief Minister and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak should be proceeded against for failing to procure Paddy and causing untold misery to farmers”. Disclosing the a party delegation would meet Governor Gulab Chand Kataria soon and apprise him of the situation, Majithia said “We will also demand a CBI probe into the manner in which farmers are being forced to sell their produce below the minimum support price (MSP) at the instance of AAP functionaries and private players”. Explaining the issue, he said the Chief Minister had appealed to the farmers to sow early varieties of paddy to save on water consumption but now government agencies including Markfed, Pungrain and Punsup were not purchasing these paddy varieties causing untold misery to farmers. He said many farmers were also being duped by AAP functionaries and private players to offload their produce at rates which were Rs 300 to Rs 400 less than the MSP. Majithia said Basmati farmers were also suffering huge losses with Basmati selling at Rs 2700per quintal in the Mandis against last year’s price of Rs 4,000 per quintal. “Farmers are facing a loss of as much as Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per acre but the government is not intervening to save the farmers”, he said...////...