Kurukshetra farmers protest delay in paddy procurement

A high drama was witnessed at the Kurukshetra mini-secretariat as hundreds of farmers and mandi labourers protested against delay in paddy procurement by government agencies

A high drama was witnessed at the Kurukshetra mini-secretariat as hundreds of farmers and mandi labourers protested against delay in paddy procurement by government agencies.

After a drama of over an hour, Kurukshetra deputy commissioner Mukul Kumar, accompanied by other officials, reached the protesters and assured of taking up their issues with the higher authorities. (HT Photo)

The farmers and labourers reached the mini-secretariat, carrying their unsold paddy in tractor-trailers, alleging that they are facing problems of storage and harvesting due to unnecessary delay in procurement by the Harryana government.

Police were deployed and security officials locked the main gate of the mini-secretariat to stop the farmers from entering the deputy commissioner’s office.

The protesting farmers said their crop is ready for harvest and thousands of quintals of the unsold paddy is lying in the mandis for past one week but the government has not started the procurement process.

Farmers slammed deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, who had earlier announced that paddy procurement will start from September 25. The mandi labourers also demanded the government to start procurement without any further delay as they are sitting idle in lack of work in mandis.

After a drama of over an hour, Kurukshetra deputy commissioner Mukul Kumar, accompanied by other officials, reached the protesters and assured of taking up their issues with the higher authorities.

The DC said farmers ended their protest as the government will start procurement from October 1 and officials of the departments concerned have been asked to redress other issues.

Charuni alleges flaws in ‘Meri Fasal, Mera Byora’ portal

Alleging flaws in the ‘Meri Fasal, Mera Byora’ portal, Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union president Gurnam Singh Charuni has demanded the government to immediately close the portal and allow farmers to sell their produce in mandi openly.

The government had introduced the portal making it mandatory for all farmers to sell their produce on minimum support price (MSP) to the government agencies.

In a letter written to chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Charuni alleged that farmers are facing problems in registration and are forced by officials to make rounds of government offices as most landholdings in the state are owned by joint families.

Charuni also demanded Khattar to at least set up help centres for farmers as officials are unable to address their issues.