Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers gather outside Haryana mandis, demand out of turn paddy procurement

The government claims to have begun procurement of paddy beginning Sunday even as hundreds of Haryana farmers lined up outside Mandis in the state without an invitation and demanded that their paddy produce is procured out of schedule.As per the laid down procedure, sms were sent to registered farmers inviting them to Mandis on a pre-scheduled date and time for procurement of their harvest. However, scores of farmers have arrived at the mandis with their produce without any invitation and are pressuring the administration to accommodate them out of turn“I had brought my produce of 4 acres on September 19 as the government had earlier announced to start the procurement from September 25 but later it was delayed, now it should procure our produce on priority as we were waiting here for more than a week, ”farmer Jasmer Singh of Ladwa of Kurukshetra district said.Scheduled procurement is a pre-condition for direct payment of the minimum support price (MSP) to paddy farmers.Vinay Yadav, chief administrator of Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board said fresh directions have been issued that the farmers who have already brought their produce to the mandis out of schedule will have to obtain an invite or schedule on the e-kharid portal. In the interim, to avoid long queues outside mandis. temporary gate passes were being issued to farmers but procurement will only take place as per the schedule, he added.The officials providing temporary gate passes to farmers said they didn’t know when their produce will be procured. Thousands of quintals of paddy has already arrived in the mandis but the government said it will give priority to farmers who had received message inviting them to Mandis for procurement. District authorities had been told to start the procurement of Parmal varieties from Sunday morning.Gurdeep Singh of Bansa village of Karnal district alleged that the government was harassing in the name of schedule and gate pass. “I had come with my produce of three acres at 4 am after waiting for around 4 hours in the queue I got a temporary gate pass to bring my produce inside the mandi,” he added.Gagandeep Singh, zonal administrator of Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board said, “We are fully prepared and the procurement has started in all the grain markets in Karnal as per the schedule issued to the farmers and if a farmer missed his scheduled procurement slot then alternate arrangements will be made as per the government’s directions.”Also Read: Ambala: 17 protesting farmers booked for rioting, unlawful assemblyThe state government has set a target of procuring around 60 lakh MT of paddy from around 200 purchase centres this year. But officials associated with the agencies say that procurement may exceed the target following an increase in the area under cultivation of parmal varieties. As per official data, over 40% of area under paddy cultivation, that is 584,000 hectares, is growing the Parmal varieties.According to the commission agents the delay in procurement and lifting may create a glut in the mandis. Haryana BKU president Gurnam Singh Charuni has demanded that the order for scheduled procurement in all the Mandis is withdrawn.In a videos message, Charuni also asked farmers to break the gates of the mandis if the officials do not allow them to enter the grain markets in the name of schedule or gate passes.

Hindustan Times

03-10-2021

India