Farmers Movement Archive

Teething problems to the fore

Archit WattsEVEN as wheat procurement has begun amid curfew in Punjab, chaos and confusion prevail among arhtiyas (commission agents), farmers and officials of local market committees across the state.Though the number of procurement centres has been increased from 1,820 last year to 3,791 (including rice mills) this year, farmers and arhtiyas are complaining about the non-issuance of coupons, mandatory to bring produce to the purchase centres.A total of 27 lakh coupons are to be issued for wheat procurement, which will last till June 30. Arhtiyas are claiming that the centralised system for coupons is not working. “The state government should have empowered the local market committees to generate and issue coupons to arhtiyas, farmers, labourers and accountants. The committee officials, along with the arhtiya association, can better handle the situation. They know which arhtiya needs how many passes. Also, there is no information about how to use Ola app to get the coupons. Some arhtiyas were getting the coupons of those purchase centres where they don’t even go. Some youngsters recently hired by the market committees had fed the information of last year’s trade into the system, which has now created a mess. The coupons are being generated from Chandigarh and issued here,” said Bunty Goyal, vice-president, Kacha Arhtiya Association, Muktsar.A cross-section of the arhtiyas said, “The government recently purchased cotton through the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), ignoring us, but now during the pandemic it has decided to procure wheat through us just because it is a cumbersome process. It shows the biased approach of the government towards the arhtiyas.”There is a cap of 50-quintal produce to be brought by a farmer at a time. For this purpose, also to ensure social distancing, the ground space at mandis has been divided into enclosures of 30x30 ft, space earmarked for cleaning, filling in gunny bags and lifting. However, the situation on the ground is altogether different. The Punjab Government had stated that those involved in the task of procurement would be given face masks, gloves etc., but labourers are working without the mandatory safety gear. Social distancing, too, is not being maintained.In rural areas, the arrangements are still not in place at some purchase centres. A district mandi officer admitted that making all arrangements would take time as the number of purchase centres had gone up.A random visit to some purchase centres revealed that there were hardly any arrangements for handwashing or sanitising tractor-trailers or mandis.Ranjit Singh, a farmer, said, “I have visited a few purchase centres, but the arrangements were not in place. At a purchase centre, labourers cleaning the ground said it was sanitised three days ago.”A cross-section of the farmers said, “When the arhtiyas are confused, how can they guide us? The state government should simplify things or emulate the Haryana authorities. The neighbouring state has not fixed a cap of 50-quintal produce. How can we bring just 50 quintals in a day? Where will we store the remaining produce? If we daily bring only 50-quintal produce, it will result in more visits to mandis, increasing the risk of getting infected. The issue of coupons should be sorted out at the earliest. Then the government should remove the 50-quintal clause. Only thereafter the situation can improve. The produce has just started coming to the mandis and the situation is chaotic. Imagine the scenario when the arrivals will pick up in the coming days.”Additional Chief Secretary Vishwajit Khanna said one-third of the farmers would be issued coupons daily with holograms and the number of the trailer allowed for bringing the produce that day.The state government has deployed over 8,600 police personnel and more than 6,400 volunteers for round-the-clock vigil in mandis and villages to ensure smooth procurement. Keeping in view the infrastructural constraints and limited availability of manpower and machinery with the procurement agencies, the Punjab Mandi Board has decided to cap daily lifting of wheat in grain markets and purchase centres at 3 lakh tonnes.Wheat is being purchased at the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,925 per quintal. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has written to the Prime Minister, reiterating the demand for incentive to farmers bringing their produce after April 30.On wheat storage, the CM has said that the lifting of foodgrain had started as over 70 railway racks had transported wheat. “Also, the state has sufficient space in rice mills to accommodate the fresh produce,” he added.The state has been contributing 30-35 per cent of wheat procured for the Central pool to ensure adequate buffer stocks of the country.

The Tribune

2020-04-20