New Delhi:
Procurement of paddy and bajra in Haryana will begin from tomorrow, Chief Minister ML Khattar said on Saturday afternoon, hours after over 1,000 angry farmers gathered outside their residence in Karnal district to protest the government’s delayed procurement of their crops. .
“Due to the delay in monsoon, the central government had postponed the commencement of procurement of paddy and bajra from October 1 to October 11 this year. There is a demand for an early start. Procurement will start from tomorrow,” Khattar said. Mr Khattar said.
The U-turn in the government’s stand came after a meeting between Mr. Khattar and Jr. Union Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs Ashwini Choubey today.
Mr. Choubey also said that the procurement of paddy will start in Punjab also.
Earlier today, between one thousand and 1500 angry farmers started a sit-in outside the Chief Minister’s residence in Karnal and demanded that the procurement should be started immediately.
Scenes from the area showed farmers standing on a stack of yellow police barricades and shouting angrily, while a handful of security forces in riot gear watch.
Farmers were briefly doused with water cannons by police – with whom anti-agriculture law protesters have clashed several times this week alone – and who have been deployed to the scene with a large number of tear gas vehicles .
Yesterday, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait had warned of these protests..
He had tweeted, “Farmers will protest outside the homes of BJP-JJP MLAs tomorrow (in Haryana) and collector’s office in Punjab, demanding paddy purchase.
Also yesterday, Punjab’s new Chief Minister Charanjit Channi met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi to discuss agriculture laws and asked the Center to start buying paddy and millet from farmers.
The Congress (in opposition in Haryana and in power in Punjab) has warned the Center that a huge amount of paddy will be wasted if it is not picked up soon.
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala was quoted as saying, “Lakhs of quintals of paddy had started arriving in the mandis from September 20. Eleven days have passed since then, but till now not a single grain has been procured in Haryana (at MSP). Is.” Agency PTI.
He said that earlier the procurement of paddy in Haryana was to start from September 25.
Mr Surjewala also said that about 20 lakh quintals of paddy are lying in the mandis without monitoring.
“4.5 lakh quintals of paddy has arrived in Ambala… 5.5 lakh quintals in Kurukshetra… 2.25 lakh quintals in Yamunanagar… 2 lakh quintals in Kaithal and 1.75 lakh in Karnal,” he said. Clear conspiracy to stop buying paddy at MSP.
Mr Surjewala also said that the Center has not fixed specifications for procurement this season, including guidelines for percentage of moisture content and procurement of slightly faded or shriveled crop.
Farmers in Haryana, Punjab and other states are protesting the Centre’s controversial agriculture laws that it says will eventually abolish the MSP, or minimum support price, system, which is the minimum guaranteed price at which the Center buys their crops. .
The Center has maintained that the new laws will not affect the MSP and has refused to repeal the laws.
.