Kurukshetra: Farmers held protests at various mandis in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district for the third day on Tuesday, alleging delay in paddy procurement and a lack of coordination between the government departments and various agencies. Farmers in Karnal district also protested over glitches in the procurement process.
The state government started procurement in Karnal, Kaithal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar from Sunday, while in other districts it began on Tuesday. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said Tuesday evening that the farmers will not be allowed to face any problem in the procurement process.
Khattar told senior government officials to ensure that if a farmer brings 10 percent additional paddy to the mandi, it should also be purchased. The limit, which was earlier 25 quintals, has now been increased to 33 quintals, an official statement said. He asked the procurement agencies to immediately lift the procured paddy from Wednesday. He also reviewed the purchase of millet, maize, moong and cotton.
Earlier in the day, agitating farmers raised slogans against the state government in Kurukshetra, Pipli, Pehowa and Ladwa. Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Thanesar in Kurukshetra Akhil Pilani tried to pacify the farmers, who complained that they were waiting in the mandi for seven-eight days to sell their crops. Kurukshetra Market Committee Secretary Harjeet Singh said the farmers submitted a memorandum to the SDM and demanded that their produce be procured at the earliest.
He said the procurement could not start even on Tuesday as the rice millers refused to make purchases till their demands were accepted by the state government. Besides, he said, the portal of the market committee was also not working. In many cases, it shows very less cultivable land registered by farmers on the ‘Meri Fasal Mera Byora’ portal due to which they are not getting gate-pass to sell the crop in the ‘mandi’.
Agitating farmers threatened that they would block vehicular traffic on Wednesday if the procurement process does not start by then. Haryana BKU leader Gurnam Singh said not just Kurukshetra, farmers were facing problems in other mandis of the state as well.
He said they held a two-hour meeting with Additional Chief Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies, PK Das, in Chandigarh regarding the problems faced by the farmers. We did not get any concrete assurance regarding our problems, he said.
Gurnam Singh said the BKU has given a call for protest in front of the mandis on Wednesday. On Tuesday, farmers in Pipli and Ladwa raised anti-government slogans, those in Pehowa blocked traffic on the Chandigarh-Hisar highway for over five hours.
DSP, Pehowa, Gurmaij Singh said traffic had to be diverted. A farmer said the state government should resolve issues with rice millers as well as farmers to relax the condition for moisture content and take paddy even with higher content of 17 percent fixed by the government.
On Monday, farmers at a ”mandi” had also locked up the secretary and other staff of the Market Committee inside the office. They relented after a large police contingent reached the spot to control the situation.
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