Slow lifting leads to glut in mandis, farmers protest

KARNAL: Even as the government stopped procurement operations over the weekend, farmers were back to square one on Monday as they struggled to unload their produce amid space crunch in mandis.

Despite deputy commissioners’ directions to speed up lifting operations at least 50% of procured wheat was still in mandis and the arrival of more grain created a glut in most northern districts of the state.

With harvesting of wheat is its peak, sluggish lifting operations have added to farmers’ woes.

A farmer, Surender Singh of Kurukshetra, who is waiting to unload his wheat at Ladwa grain market, said, “I harvested five acres of wheat on Friday but I did not receive any schedule over SMS. However, I had to bring the produce of two acres in the mandi as I do not have enough storage.”

In Karnal, farmers, especially those from the border districts of Uttar Pradesh, staged a protest outside the Karnal grain market over non-procurement of produce. The protesting farmers said that had registered themselves on the ‘meri fasal mera bayora’ portal but they did not get any SMS to bring their produce to the mandis.

After three hours, the farmers were allowed to bring their produce to the Karnal mandi. “As there was no space in the mandis farmers waiting from 3am were not given gate passes to enter till 10am,” said a commission agent Rishi Pal of Indri Grain Market of Karnal.

As per Kurukshetra deputy commissioner Sharandeep Kaur Barar, 47% of 3.97 lakh tonnes of procured wheat in all mandis has been lifted so far. But 2.11 lakh tonnes of the grain is still lying in mandis of the district.

In Karnal, of 5.98 lakh tonnes of wheat procured, 3.49 lakh tonnes have been lifted and 42% was still in the mandis. Similarly, in Kaithal, 4.8 lakh tonnes of grain had arrived but around 2 lakh tonnes were yet to be lifted.

As per mandi officials, the government’s decision to stop procurement for two days did not provide any major relief to farmers who continued to bring their produce to the mandis without gate passes and commission agents.

State govt procures

5.32 lakh tonne wheat

The Haryana government on Monday procured 5.32 lakh tonnes of wheat through different procurement agencies at minimum support price (MSP).

Of the 60 lakh tonne wheat that has so far arrived in 396 mandis, 50 lakh tonnes have been procured. Until Monday, about 7 lakh J- forms of 2 lakh farmers had been issued and ₹2,336 crore transferred directly into the accounts of farmers, an official spokesperson said.