The Punjab cabinet on Thursday gave its go-ahead to formulating a new agriculture policy, one which is aimed at making farming profitable and giving impetus to food production, said finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema after the meeting.

The go-ahead came on a day CM Bhagwant Mann met farmers who are protesting in Chandigarh’s Sector 34 to demand such a policy.

Cheema said the contours of the policy were discussed during the meeting, including the need to preserve groundwater and making canal water available across the state. It was decided the policy will be formulated by taking into confidence all major stakeholders, he said. The meeting was chaired by Mann just ahead of his discussions with representatives of farm groups BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) and Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union. “Farmers’ inputs will be incorporated in the policy. A draft has been prepared by experts and the policy will be implemented shortly. CM already announced this during the assembly session,” said Cheema. Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar had claimed in assembly that the draft of policy had been submitted to state govt by the assembly committee constituted for the policy three months ago, but it was awaiting approval.