Farmers Movement Archive

Farmer’s body questions legality of Hry’s farm portal

Kurukshetra: Bharatiya Kisan Union (Haryana Charuni group) has questioned the legality of ‘Meri Fasal Mera Byora’ (MFMB) portal, launched by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in 2018 to help farmers sell their crops in the market. The farmer’s body has claimed that RTI applications filed on June 24 and 29 had revealed that the portal was implemented without any law or organizational structure. BKU (Charuni) spokesman Rakesh Kumar Bains said they would soon move the Punjab and Haryana high court against the portal after consultation with the agriculture lawyers to plead removal of this portal from the market. In the RTI applications, the group had sought information on 17 points regarding legality, objective, and functioning of MFMB from Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB). “In its reply, HSAMB said the portal was implemented without any law. On MFMB’s organizational structure, the board replied that there is no written information about the organizational structure and framework of this portal, which was meant to help farmers dealing in 12 varieties of crops, 17 vegetables and three fruits,” Rakesh added. “The portal has become a major problem for farmers. There is no dispute redressal mechanism and the farmers have to hold protests to seek their rights. The board said it is the responsibility of the farmers to get their crops registered on the MFMB portal, else their crops will not be procured at minimum support price (MSP) and they would have to sell in the open market,” the BKU (Charuni) spokesman said. Rakesh claimed that it has become clear from the information given by HSAMB that MFMB is not for the interests of the farmers and it just is a move to keep them away from MSP.

The Times of India

2020-08-04

Chandigarh