A day after farmers’ groups staged a protest in Shahabad, Kurukshetra, and attempted to block NH-44, the state government on Wednesday agreed to start the process of kharif procurement from Friday.
Haryana government officials, led by Anshaj Singh, director of the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department, met a delegation of protesting farmers led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Charuni) chief Gurnam Singh Charuni at the PWD rest house and informed them about the decision.
Speaking to reporters, Kurukshetra deputy commissioner (DC) Vishram Kumar Meena said that the government has decided to start issuing gate passes at the purchase centres from Friday. “The marketing board will conduct biometric and other formalities for farmers who have already brought their produce to the market,” the DC said.
“Nearly 22,000 metric tonnes (MT) of paddy has arrived at various centres in Kurukshetra till Tuesday. Thus, we will arrange biometric verification for the farmers at the mandi itself so they don’t have to reload the paddy and reach the gate,” he said.
Meena said that approval from the Union government will be received this week, after which the formal auction process will follow. The officials, including Singh and Meena later reached the dharna site on the Shahbad-Barara state highway to make the announcement.
{{/usCountry}}Meena said that approval from the Union government will be received this week, after which the formal auction process will follow. The officials, including Singh and Meena later reached the dharna site on the Shahbad-Barara state highway to make the announcement.
{{/usCountry}}Singh informed the farmers that the state government has also agreed to their demand for a permanent solution to start advance procurement before October 1.
“Mandis in this (Kurukshetra) region receive paddy earlier due to short-period varieties grown. We will make efforts to prepone the purchase by September 15 from next year. Our principal secretary is currently in Delhi meeting the Union government officials to start purchase for this season. Until there is approval, we have decided to initiate procurement with the help of the market committee and commission agents,” Singh said.
Meanwhile, Charuni said that following the meeting, the farmers decided to lift the dharna and allow traffic movement on the state highway. He said the administration has also decided to release their men detained on Tuesday or Wednesday after protests in Shahbad or elsewhere.
Earlier in the day, local police detained several farmer leaders and office-bearers of farmers’ unions across the state to prevent them from joining the dharna.
Preparations completed for paddy procurement: Agri minister
Haryana agriculture and farmers welfare minister Shyam Singh Rana on Wednesday appealed to the farmers to maintain patience and cooperate with the administration in the procurement process, adding that preparations for the procurement have been completed.
Speaking to reporters in Karnal, he said there are 249 mandis in the state and paddy arrivals have begun in some of them and the crops registered by farmers on the “Meri Fasal, Mera Byora” portal are being verified.
“A large number of farmers’ crops have been verified via satellite, while the remaining cases are being manually verified. Officers and employees at the DC, SDM, tehsildar, and patwari levels have been deployed for this purpose,” he said, adding that after the verification process is complete, the paddy procurement process will proceed based on average production.
The minister said that geo-fencing has been installed in the mandis this year and gate passes will be issued only after entry.