Ludhiana, April 17 -- Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday said chief minister Bhagwant Mann was directly responsible for not securing relaxation in moisture content for farmers of Punjab due to which their wheat crop was not being procured.

The SAD president, who visited Asia's largest grain market here, claimed that the chief minister only acted after both Haryana and Rajasthan secured the relaxation after applying for it immediately.

Stating that Punjab farmers had been dealt a double whammy, Badal said they first suffered due to destruction of their crops due to rain and hailstorm. Now, they were suffering because procurement agencies were not purchasing their harvested crop due to excess moisture.

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