Chandigarh, Oct 16 — Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda on Friday blamed the state BJP for the plight of farmers.
He said despite repeated pleas, the government not only failed to expedite the procurement of paddy and bajra but also failed to ensure the timely lifting of the purchased produce from procurement centres.
“As a result of the government’s apathy, two days of rain have wiped out months of the farmers' hard work. Lakhs of metric tons of paddy across mandis in the state have been submerged in water, causing massive losses to both farmers and commission agents,” the Leader of Opposition said in a statement.
He demanded that the government fulfil its promise to procure paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal, and urged the government to compensate for these losses by providing a bonus, as the administration is directly responsible for the situation. He said he had visited several mandis across the state and spoken with farmers and commission agents, and he found no one satisfied with the government's arrangements.
“Everywhere, the complaint remained the same: procurement is not proceeding smoothly. Farmers are trapped in a series of issues, including problems with gate passes, verification processes, procurement limits, long traffic jams, and excessive waiting times,” he said.
He alleged the deliberate ignorance of farmers has reached a point that even the moisture-testing machines have been found to be tampered with. When the same batch of produce was tested using three different machines, the moisture levels recorded were inconsistent.
Hooda said this is all part of a deliberate arrangement by the government. He pointed out that the government is intentionally trying to avoid procuring the farmers' produce at the minimum support price (MSP), thereby forcing them to sell their crops to private agencies at lower prices.
Due to this stance of the government, farmers are forced to sell their paddy at a price Rs 400 per quintal below the MSP and bajra at a price ranging from Rs 800 to Rs 900 per quintal below the MSP.