Former Haryana minister Kiran Choudhry on Monday expressed dismay at the “inadequate” arrangements for the procurement of wheat and other rabi crops by the Haryana and Union government.
At a briefing, the Congress leader alleged that mustard crop is selling at ₹4,500 to ₹5,000 per quintal in various mandis of Haryana as against the minimum support price of ₹5,450 per quintal and officials of procurement agencies were hands in glove with oil millers to facilitate farmers’ exploitation. She said the BJP’s promise to give MSP as per C-2 formula of MS Swaminathan recommendations is a “pipedream and a jumla”.
Choudhry said due to the untimely rain, hailstorm and inclement weather, there has been extensive loss to wheat and other rabi crops in the state. As per news reports, farmers have reported loss to 17.15 lakh acres of standing wheat crops on the e- kshatipurti portal. The actual loss could be much more, as many farmers are not IT savvy and cannot access the official portal. She expressed dissatisfaction over the “slow pace” of special girdawari done by patwaris to assess loss to crops on account of the natural calamity. She demanded that additional staff be deployed for this purpose and special girdawari done on war-footing as no girdawari can be done after wheat harvesting is over.
“Due to natural calamity, the wheat grain has shrivelled in size, lost lustre and has a higher moisture content. The Union government has put a condition that the wheat with relaxed specifications and norms will be purchased at discounted rates for which six slabs have been created. In view of the natural calamity, farmers should not bear any loss on account of loss of lustre or grain size of wheat. In view of the rising debt burden of the state government, this burden should be borne by the Union government,” the former minister said.
She said at present the assessment of damage to crops was being done at three levels - patwaris, the agriculture department and satellite data of HARSAC . “This process being too cumbersome is likely to cause harassment to farmers. They should be given the option of submitting their claims manually in all offices, besides having access to online portals,’’ she said.
{{/usCountry}}She said at present the assessment of damage to crops was being done at three levels - patwaris, the agriculture department and satellite data of HARSAC . “This process being too cumbersome is likely to cause harassment to farmers. They should be given the option of submitting their claims manually in all offices, besides having access to online portals,’’ she said.
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