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Haryana: Wheat arrivals sluggish as rain delays harvesting
Happy Singh from Karnal’s Indri sub-division said his town witnessed heavy rain on Wednesday, which added to their woes as the fields remain wet and unfit for using harvesters
Unseasonal light to moderate rain early this week disrupted wheat harvesting in the region, further delaying procurement at the grain markets.
The agriculture department and experts also advised farmers to avoid harvesting after the rain and wait for fields to dry up. However, the drop in daytime temperature has also added to the delay.
Happy Singh from Karnal’s Indri sub-division said his town witnessed heavy rain on Wednesday, which added to their woes as the fields remain wet and unfit for using harvesters. Farm activist Bahadur Mehla said that due to rain, the moisture content of the wheat remains above the permissible limit of 12%. Thus, farmers must wait a few days for it to dry, or they will face a cut in the rate.
Meanwhile, a visit to the new grain market in Karnal on Thursday confirmed that the procurement process at the purchase centres goes on smoothly. There was hardly any queue at the entry where gate passes are issued. Similarly, labourers were seen waiting for farmers to arrive with their produce.
Rakesh Kumar, a farmer from Kutail village, said, “I arrived at 10 am at the mandi with wheat grown on two acres of land and it took me 10 minutes to get a gate pass. The biometric was done at the office of a commission agent by mandi authorities, and the agent started the purchase process.”
Another farmer Anil Sharma from Kalron village said he faced a problem during biometric verification because his fingers did not match, but it was completed after an hour on the third attempt.
Deputy commissioner Uttam Singh said extra staff has been deployed at the mandis to ensure smooth operations and that farmers are not facing difficulties.
BJP depriving farmers of MSP in the name of new rules: Hooda
Former chief minister and leader of the Opposition (LoP) Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday said that the BJP government engages “solely in scams under the guise of crop procurement” as the government continues to impose fresh conditions on farmers with the intent of avoiding MSP payments.
Addressing a press conference in Naraingarh, Ambala, he said that instead of actually procuring wheat and mustard, the government is imposing one “bizarre condition” after another upon the farmers.
“Conditions such as portal registration, gate passes, biometric verification, tractor registration numbers, general verification, and the requirement of a guarantor are being arbitrarily imposed,” he said.
“Farmers are being treated like criminals; the government’s objective appears to be to keep farmers entangled in this bureaucratic maze so that it can avoid procuring their crops altogether. During the Congress regime, procurement took place smoothly, and farmers never faced such difficulties,” he added. Congress state president Rao Narendra, MP Varun Mulana and local MLAs were also present.
