Indore: A day after death of a farmer at wheat procurement centre in Agar-Malwa district, Congress accused BJP government of showing negligence in establishing a proper system and making required arrangements at wheat procurement centres in Madhya Pradesh.
Criticising the state government over the farmer’s death , former chief minister Kamal Nath has demanded compensation of Rs 50 lakh for his family and appropriate action against officials concerned.
Nath has launched a tirade against CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan alleging that all tall claims of the state government related to wheat procurement were far away from reality as farmers are facing huge difficulties in selling their crops. In his three back-to-back tweets, Nath alleged that the farmer had died in stress due to mismanagement at the wheat procurement centre. “The government should render all possible help to the farmer’s family and take stern action against those responsible for it” he tweeted.
The state BJP has rejected allegations made by Congress about death of the farmer and said that the government was making all possible efforts to help farmers across Madhya Pradesh amid the Covid-19 crisis.
BJP state president V D Sharma said that so far, the state government has procured a record 114 metric tonne of wheat from around 15 lakh farmers. “Congress has nothing to talk about and is making baseless allegations on wheat procurement. The MP government has made a record by procuring114 metric tonne of wheat during the initial phase of procurement from 15 lakh farmers. The last date of procurement has also been extended till every farmer is covered,” said Sharma.
Rejecting Congress’ allegations, Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste too, said that the BJP government has left no stone unturned to help farmers during exigencies. “The charges made by Congress have no base as the government has made all possible arrangements to procure rabi crop from the farmers. The death of a farmer during the procurement is unfortunate and it is not related to the procurement procedures. The government has not denied any farmers and all of them will be covered by the procurement scheme. All farmers will be benefited,” said Kulaste at the BJP state office on Tuesday.
The farmer, Prem Singh of Malwasa village, had received an SMS on May 19 from local administration to bring his wheat produce at government wheat procurement centre in Tanodia village. However, he had to allegedly wait for a week for his number to come and when his produce was being weighed on May 25, he complained of uneasiness and fell unconscious. Later, doctors declared him death.
District collector Sanjay Kumar said that the farmer was sent the SMS to bring his crops at the procurement centre on May 19, but, he had turned up on May 23. “Some problem appeared in procurement process on May 23 due to shortage of gunny-bags. The process resumed on May 24 afternoon and the entire team worked even on Eid to clear backlogs,” said collector.
“Short postmortem report of the farmer has revealed that he died of heart-attack. Under government scheme, we have provided a cheque of Rs 4 lakh to his kin,” he said.
