E-Paper
Abhay Chautala alleges flaws in wheat procurement, cites his own case
Shows an official list of farmers which had his name as well and says that he got a message that he could bring 5.2 quintals of wheat from his farms
Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Chautala on Thursday alleged irregularities in the ongoing procurement of mustard and wheat in Haryana.
Briefing mediapersons, the Ellenabad legislator said that he was a member of the group formed by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar to discuss various issues pertaining to Covid-19 as well as the mustard and wheat procurement. The group comprises representatives from all political parties.
“I had suggested that mustard and wheat be lifted from villages either by the government or commission agents. Farmers have been suffering from day one as they are being asked to bring their produce to the mandis but on doing so are being told to go back ,” he alleged.
Citing his own example and showing an official list of farmers which had his name as well, he said that he got a message that he could bring 5.2 quintals of wheat from his farms.
“I have 76 acres of agricultural land with an average produce of 20 quintals wheat per acre. Shockingly, I have been asked to sell only about five quintals,” he said.
After already having suffered because of such messages during mustard procurement, the farmers urged the government not to follow the same system in the procurement of wheat, yet the government is being adamant, he said.
‘WILL NOT VISIT MANDIs’
Stating that he had visited grain markets to get the stock of situation, Abhay said that he would not go to mandis henceforth, as many farmers gathered wherever he visited.
“Since such gatherings could be problematic for the farmers, I have decided to not visit mandis from now onwards,” he said, adding that his decision was not taken under any pressure from the government.
3.58 lakh MT wheat bought on Day 4
The procurement agencies in Haryana on Thursday purchased about 3.58 lakh MT of wheat from 42,357 farmers across the state. Additional chief secretary, agriculture, Sanjeev Kaushal, said about 9.07 lakh MT of wheat has been procured in the last four days from nearly 1.11 lakh farmers. He added that 23,907 MT of mustard was also procured from 8,321 farmers on Thursday. The total mustard procurement has been about 2 lakh MT in last eight days.
