Uproar in House, oppn says agencies not procuring bajra
Ruckus was witnessed in the Haryana assembly session over the issue of bajra procurement with opposition parties Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Congress alleging distress selling of the crop by farmers as the government agencies had stopped buying it.
Speaking on the calling attention motion moved by him, leader of opposition Abhay Chautala said neither bajra was being procured in time nor the farmers were getting full price of their produce. “The famers are forced to sell their produce at a price less than minimum support price (MSP),’’ he said, referring to ongoing protests by farmers.
He said though agriculture minister OP Dhankar and other BJP leaders used to protest by removing their shirts on farmers issues before coming to power, now the “people of the state will remove the BJP’s clothes in the next elections for its anti-farmer policies”.
This evoked instant reaction from treasury benches with Dhankar, education minister Ram Bilas Sharma and several other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs said the government has taken unprecedented steps for farmers’ welfare and the INLD and Congress were thrown out of power due to their anti-people policies.
The House again saw heated arguments when Congress legislative party leader Kiran Choudhry used an alleged derogatory word for the trading community for which the treasury benches took on her. The speaker, however, got the word expunged.
Minister of state for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs Karan Dev Kamboj said the state had not only procured about three times more bajra than last year but also covered more mandis.
Replying to the call-attention motions clubbed together, Kamboj said the state government had procured 19,056 metric tonnes (MT) of bajra as compared 5,968 MT last year.
“Directions have been issued to the deputy commissioners and district heads of all procurement agencies to purchase bajra immediately. There is no distress sale of bajra in the state,’’ Kamboj said.
Sharma said procurement of bajra in Jind, Hisar, Taoru and Firozpur Jhirka will start from October 31.
LEADER OF OPPOSITION ABHAY CHAUTALA SAYS NEITHER BAJRA IS BEING PROCURED IN TIME NOR FARMERS WERE GETTING FULL PRICE OF PRODUCE