DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday said his government will not withdraw free power to farmers, hours after an expert panel formed to revive the state's economy termed the facility "highly regressive." The Shiromani Akali Dal too had warned earlier in the day that any move in this direction will face stiff resistance. The group of experts, led by former deputy chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, in its preliminary report said free power has limited the "government's ability to incur other expenditures essential for Punjab's development." Commenting on it in a statement, the CM said there was no question of withdrawing the facility and it will continue as long as he is leading the government. The chief minister said though it was a preliminary report, his government will not consider any recommendation on the withdrawal of free power. "As long as I am here, free power to tubewells will continue," he said. Amarinder Singh said that Montek himself clarified during a video conference with him that the report of the expert group was not anti-farmer. The panel has suggested diversification as the only hope for the Punjab agriculture, the CM said, adding that it recommended that farmers must be incentivised to diversify out of rice since ecological damage was massive due to the water intensive crop. "Diversification implies a reduction in area under rice and modernisation of marketing, which in turn implies a much larger role for the private sector," said Montek as per the statement. The CM said the state had significantly increased the area under cotton but the problem of price support remains a big obstacle to diversification. Farmers need an MSP for alternate crops to incentivise them away from paddy, he added. He also underlined the need for promoting industry with the potential to generate more employment as no modern economy could grow only on agriculture. Earlier in the day, SAD chief Sukbir Badal warned the CM, "If you take a single step towards discontinuing free power to farmers, you must prepare yourself and your government to face an unprecedented mass movement by the SAD to safeguard interests of the already beleaguered peasantry. We will never allow free power to stop." Badal said the SAD rejects this report as "inimical to farmers and accepting its recommendations will amount to signing the death warrant of poor farmers." He asked the Chief Minister to realise the gravity of the issue and reject the "recommendations." Free power to farmers has been the "most progressive" contribution of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to the national economy as it has "completely secured our food kitty and saved billions of dollars in foreign exchange alone through self-reliance and export in foodgrains," he said. Badal alleged that CM Amarinder Singh had always been looking for "excuses" to stop free power to farmers. (editor@dailyworld.in)