E-Paper
Haryana: Remove biometric verification for procurement, says Hooda
Bhupinder Singh Hooda urges the government to end Aadhaar biometric verification for farmers, citing harassment and slow procurement processes.
Former chief minister and leader of Opposition (LoP) Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday said the government should discontinue the Aadhaar-based biometric verification for farmers selling their produce. Hooda was in Karnal’s new grain market after meeting farmers at Pipli grain market in Kurukshetra.
Speaking to HT at the residence of ex-MLA Sumita Singh, Hooda said, “The BJP government is harassing farmers by imposing unnecessary conditions, forcing them to sell their produce outside the markets and not at the minimum support price.”
“The farmers already faced crop loss due to unseasonal rain. The state government first imposed a mandatory registration requirement on a portal, followed by requirement of gate passes, biometric verification, tractor numbers, verification checks and guarantors,” he said.
“Biometric verification is the biggest problem as it is difficult for elderly farmers to get their fingers scanned. Instead of procuring wheat and mustard crops, the government is imposing one bizarre condition after another upon the farmers,” Hooda alleged.
At the grain market, the Congress leader called the market committee secretary to ask about the arrival, procurement and payment made to the farmers so far. “Procurement is slow. Even if a little procurement is done, lifting (transportation) does not follow. And when the lifting takes place, the payment is not released,” he alleged.
He sought immediate girdawari (crop inspection) to provide compensation to the affected farmers.
Earlier in the day, finance secretary CG Rajini Kaanthan and deputy commissioner Uttam Singh also visited the grain markets to review the crop procurement and lifting arrangements.
Singh said that 1,08,732 metric tonnes (MT) of wheat arrived at various purchase centres and markets in the district by Thursday of which procurement agencies purchased 27,242 MT.
