Chorus for bonus on wheat grows as BKU writes to Union agriculture minister
Haryana BKU (Tikait) president Ratan Mann had also demanded ₹30,000 per acre relief from the government, even calling a Kisan Panchayat for the same at Panipat
At a time when wheat farmers are incurring huge losses in view of the ongoing spell of rain, the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU, Charuni) joined the chorus seeking bonus on the produce — demanding an additional ₹500 per quintal on wheat.
BKU (Charuni) president Gurnam Singh Charuni has written a letter to Union agriculture minister Narender Singh Tomar, requesting him to announce the ₹500 bonus in addition to the ₹2,125 being provided to the farmers.
“It is requested that the prices of wheat in the international market have reached to US$389 per tonne, which translates into ₹3,200 per quintal but the government agencies are going to procure wheat at ₹2.125 per quintal,” the letter read.
Charuni said the farmers are staring at huge losses due to unseasonal rains and the government should provide relief to farmers by announcing bonuses, adding, “The government has a great opportunity to sell the wheat at the international market and this profit should be shared with the farmers.”
Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, meanwhile, had raised a similar demand, saying that the government should help the farmers at this tough time. He had demanded ₹500 per quintal bonus for wheat farmers.
“Farmers are suffering losses due to continuous unseasonal rains. There was neither proper girdawari nor compensation was given by the government and 60-80% damage is being shown to around 25%. The government should improve the registration system and to compensate the losses of farmers the government should announce a bonus on wheat,” Hooda had said in a series of tweets.
Haryana BKU (Tikait) president Ratan Mann had also demanded ₹30,000 per acre relief from the government, even calling a Kisan Panchayat for the same at Panipat.
No arrival of wheat in mandis
Even as the government had announced to start wheat procurement from April 1, there arrival of wheat at most of the mandis across the state remained negligible amid harvest delays due to the continued rain.
Speaking of the same, a Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board official said, “The harvesting could not be started due to rains, hence there is no arrival of wheat in the mandis and the arrival will pick up after one week. Even the wheat coming to the mandis does not fulfil the procurement norms which requires moisture content up to 12%.”
Ambala city grain market mandi secretary Dalel Singh said the rains said only four farmers turned up with their produce at the mandi, adding, “There is still water logging in the fields and combines can’t work in such a situation. Farmers have told us that the season might start a week late this year due to unseasonal rainfall.”
The state government has set up 408 purchase centres for wheat procurement, 103 purchase centres for mustard, 25 grain markets for barley and 11 purchase centres for gram in the state and payment of rabi procurement will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of farmers.