Commission agents allege tardy lifting of wheat from Haryana grain markets
KARNAL: The procurement of wheat is on its last leg, but commission agents in Haryana are facing problem due to slow lifting of grains as huge heaps of the procured wheat are still lying in the grain markets.
As per the commission agents, government agencies are not lifting the procured wheat and it is costing them heavily. They also argue that it should not be their responsibility to protect the wheat lying in mandis.
Sohan Lal, a commission agent in the Ladwa grain market of Kurukshetra district, said, “Even after procurement, commission agents are forced to take care of the wheat until it is lifted. Now, thousands of bags of procured wheat lying in the open are soaked due to repeated spells of rain” He added, “We have taken up this issue several times with the administration, but our complaints are falling on deaf ears. There is nobody to address our grievances.”
A senior official of the Haryana Agriculture Marketing Board, seeking anonymity, said procurement agencies are facing problems in lifting due to bumper produce this year.
However, around 80% of the procured wheat has already been lifted and efforts are being made to ensure that the entire produce is lifted in next two-three days, he added.
Haryana is expected to have a bumper wheat crop of about 125 lakh metric tonne (MT) this year, whereas the government had set a target of procuring 85 lakh MT.
According to the officials, the wheat arrival in the mandis has already crossed 90 Lakh MT.