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Basmati prices fall as standoff between arhtiyas, Haryana govt continues
Prices of Pusa 1509 and Pusa 1692 basmati paddy varieties have witnessed a fall of around ₹ 500 per quintal and has come down to around ₹ 3,100 from ₹ 3,600 in the past three days
: Farmers in Haryana seem to be at a losing end amid the standoff between the Haryana government and arhtiyas over basmati trading on e-NAM portal and reluctance from traders to purchase paddy online, resulting in the fall in the prices of the premium aromatic rice.
As per reports, the prices of Pusa 1509 and Pusa 1692 paddy varieties have witnessed a fall of around ₹ 500 per quintal and has come down to around ₹ 3,100 from ₹ 3,600 in the past three days soon after the arhtiyas held a state level meeting in Gohana on September10.
They had threatened the government to declare an indefinite strike from September 19 if the government did not accept their demands, including withdrawal of the notification mandating procurement of Basmati varieties on e-NAM portal, direct payment of parmal varieties to farmers and advancing procurement operations of paddy to September 15.
“We have given one week’s time to the government to reconsider its decision of basmati trading on e-NAM portal, otherwise we are left with no other option but to declare an indefinite strike from September 19,” Ashok Gupta, president of Haryana state anaj mandi arhtiyas association, said on Tuesday.
Similarly, the traders alleged that they were already facing problems due to the heavy 6.5 per cent levy imposed on the procurement of basmati paddy from mandis of Haryana and now they have imposed the conditions of e-NAM portal.
However, officials monitoring the procurement operations are of the view that the directions were issued to target horse-trading in the mandis as the private buyers of basmati were evading payment of 6.5 per cent levies fixed by the government, which included 2.5 per cent commission to arhtiyas.
Sujan Singh, chief administrator of the Haryana state agricultural marketing board (HSAMB) said, “We have already clarified that we are not pressing direct payment to farmers in case of e-Nam and nothing changed from last year’s procedure.”
The government has last week issued a letter to all secretaries and executive officers of market committee of e-NAM mandis, directing them that the basmati varieties of paddy for which the minimum support price (MSP) has not been fixed be processed through e-NAM and their gate pass be generated through the e-NAM portal. Even the e-auction will be done only through the portal.
On September 9, another letter was issued in which the officials were directed that they need not to stress upon e-payment on e-NAM portal and they just need to ensure that procurement activities, including weighment and sale agreement are performed on e-NAM.
The farmers and arhtiyas are also demanding that the government advance the procurement operations to September 15 from October 1.
“The harvesting of parmal varieties have already started and most of the varieties are harvested in 90 days. The government’s notification allows paddy transplantation from June 15 and the government should start procurement from September 15,” Ratan Mann, Haryana president of Bharatiya Kisan Union- Tikait. ENDS
