Rain, tardy lifting add to worries of Haryana farmers
State govt statistics say of the 57.5 lakh metric tonne of wheat procured, around 23.22 lakh MT is lying in grain markets
KARNAL: The procurement operations in mandis and purchase centres in several districts of Haryana were hampered by moderate to heavy rainfall on Sunday morning.
Due to the slow lifting process, lakhs of quintals of the procured wheat got drenched in the mandis, leaving the arhtiyas and officials associated with the procurement process high and dry.
The arhtiyas alleged that even though over 2 lakh metric tonnes of wheat was reaching the mandis daily, the lifting process was not being carried out as per the procurement.
According to them, slow lifting of grain and inadequate arrangements to keep the wheat covered had worsened the situation, especially at the temporary procurement centres.
As per the figures given by the Haryana food and supplies department, out of the total 57.5 lakh metric tonnes of wheat procured in the state, around 40% or 23.22 lakh MT was still lying in the mandis.
“My 500 bags of wheat are lying in the open. We have repeatedly requested the mandi secretary in Nilokheri to allow us to shift our wheat to the sheds but he did not listen us, even though the sheds were lying empty,” said a commission agent of Nilokheri of Karnal district.
As per commission agents, it was the responsibility of the government agencies that had procured the wheat to protect it until it reaches the godown.
In some grain markets, farmers were seen pumping out water from purchase centres to protect their wheat.
The farmers are also facing difficulties in selling their produce as the rains have affected the procurement process.
Shubhash Chander, a farmer of Shikarpur village of Hisar district, said, “My wheat is lying in open at the grain market in Hisar. We request the local administration to arrange for proper sheds to keep our produce safe.”
Karnal deputy commissioner Nishant Yadav said instructions have been issued to the procurement agencies in Karnal and 69.07% of the wheat has been lifted, which is highest lifting percentage in Haryana. Around 30% still remains in mandis, he added.
MET OFFICIALS PREDICT CHANGE IN WEATHER
The meteorology department at the Chaudhary Charan Singh of Haryana Agriculture University predicted that the weather had changed and asked the farmers to stop sowing the next cycle of crop.
ML Khichar, head of meteorology and agriculture department, said that due to western disturbances the weather condition had changed from May 10 and will continue to be the same till midnight of May 13.
CONGRESS SLAMS KHATTAR GOVT OVER PADDY SOWING CURBS
CHANDIGARH: Haryana Congress on Sunday said the state government’s ‘diktat’ to restrict the paddy cultivation to half in 19 blocks amounted to denial of fundamental right of livelihood to the farmers.
Addressing a joint press conference, state Congress president Kumari Selja and AICC communication chief Randeep Singh Surjewala criticised the BJP-JJP government for ordering farmers of Siwan, Guhla, Pipli,Shahabad,Babain,Ismailabad, Shahbad, Ratia and Sirsa blocks to restrict paddy cultivation to half.
“The state government has not only asked the farmers to compulsorily switch to maize cultivation on half of their land without offering a better option, it has also threatened that all the farm subsidies would be taken away and there would not be any procurement of paddy. This is an insensitive regime that is imposing antifarmers orders,” the Congress leaders said.
They said the Congress was not against the crop diversification or water preservation, but was against the denial of ‘inalienable’ rights to the farmers.