Former Haryana Chief Minister and leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday alleged that farmers were being harassed in the State on account of the wrong policies of the BJP-JJP government.
“The government has been bringing new rules every now and then to harass the farmers, traders and workers of Haryana. Despite the government repeatedly changing the dates and announcing government procurement, farmers are still going from pillar to post in the mandis,” he said.
“About 28 lakh quintals of paddy are lying in the mandis today and smooth procurement of the crop is not being done. The crop brought to the market is either being sold to private agencies at a lower rate or has to be taken back home and the farmer has to bear the transportation costs twice over,” he alleged.
Mr. Hooda said the government’s apathy is not just limited to procuring paddy; purchase of bajra was affected as well. The government, he said, was imposing unnecessary conditions like registration, scheduling etc. “There is a capping of 25 quintals per acre, which was reduced from 33 quintals last year. There was no cap on procurement during the Congress government as the focus of the government was to simplify processes for farmers,” he said.
During the Congress rule, the crop of every farmer who reached the market was bought and paid for simultaneously, Mr. Hooda said. “The present government had made the procurement process so complicated that farmers are finding it difficult to sell the crop. First, the government deliberately delays procurement, then there are delays in lifting, which delays the payments made to the farmers,” he said.
He also reiterated his demand for compensation for paddy, cotton, sesame, groundnut and vegetable crops damaged due to inclement weather in the past few days.
