After farmers’ protest, Centre to start paddy procurement today
Farmers protested the delay in front of legislators’ and ministers’ residences in both the states
NEW DELHI: After farmers on Saturday laid siege on residences of legislators and ministers in Punjab and Haryana, including chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s house in Karnal, to protest the Centre’s decision to delay paddy procurement, Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey announced that the procurement will start from Sunday in both states.
“The procurement (of Kharif crops) will start from tomorrow in Haryana as well as Punjab,” Choubey, who is Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, told news agency ANI after a meeting with Khattar in the Capital.
Meanwhile, Khattar said, “Due to delay in monsoon, the Central Government had postponed the start of procurement of paddy and millet to October 11 from October 1 this year... There are demands for an early start. The procurement will start tomorrow.”
The Centre on Thursday postponed procurement of kharif paddy in Punjab and Haryana, which usually begins on October 1, to October 11 as the crop maturity is delayed and moisture content in fresh arrival is beyond permissible limits owing to recent heavy rains.
Widespread rainfall has been experienced across Punjab and Haryana during the second fortnight of September and untimely showers have affected the standing paddy crop in both the agrarian states, the government’s statement had said.
The decision triggered sharp reactions from the farmers’ bodies with the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions, on Friday giving a call for holding protests outside the residences of legislators in Punjab and Haryana to register their protest.
On Saturday, farmers broke police barricades and faced water cannons to gherao the residences of legislators and ministers in Punjab and Haryana. The situation became tense in a few places in Haryana and Punjab after minor clashes broke out between farmers and police. In several places in these states farmers after reaching residences of ministers, legislators and MPs, parked their food grain-laden trolleys in front of their houses.
In Karnal, the Haryana Police used water cannons to disperse protesting farmers after they tried to lay siege on Khattar’s residence, while in Shahabad and Panchkula, the agitators used tractors to break police barricades to reach houses of BJP leaders, including Haryana Minister Sandeep Singh, officials said.
While the BJP, in alliance with the JJP, is in power in Haryana, the Congress is the ruling party in Punjab, and both state governments have urged the Centre to ensure farmers do not face any problem in paddy procurement.
In Punjab, farmers gathered outside the residences of several Congress legislators, including state assembly Speaker Rana K P Singh in Rupnagar and MLA Harjot Kamal in Moga, and staged protests over the delay in purchase of paddy crop.
On Friday, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask government agencies to begin paddy procurement.
Police said that there was no report of any “major” untoward incident from the two states.
The procurement operation is undertaken by the central government’s nodal agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) along with state agencies.
Haryana Minister Anil Vij on Saturday said the farmers’ agitation is getting “violent day by day”. “Farmers’ agitation is getting violent day by day. Violent movement in the country of Mahatma Gandhi cannot be allowed…,” said Vij in a tweet.
Police personnel were deployed in strength to maintain law and order, the officials said. Farmers expressed apprehension that they would suffer if their crop is not purchased at the grain markets.
Paddy crop, though in small quantity, has started arriving in mandis (markets) especially in border areas of Punjab, farmers said.