Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday slammed the state government for alleged tardy paddy procurement and failure to protect the interests of farmers.
Hooda, who visited the grain markets in Kurukshetra district, said farmers have been suffering due to poor arrangements of the state government at the mandis. “There is total collapse of the mandis (grain markets) in the state as there are no purchases, no MSP for farmers, no gunny bags to pack whatever crops arrive, no gate passes, no lifting and no payment to farmers who sell their crops,” he said.
“It seems as if farmers are being harassed intentionally as there were also complaints regarding the online portal, gate passes, deduction in MSP and waiting for hours to sell the produce,” Hooda said.
He also claimed that it is for the first time that Basmati is being sold below MSP. “This has led to a situation where the farmer is selling his crop to private agencies at whatever price they are offering. This indicates a lot about working of the new system,” he said.
The former minister said the government should buy paddy, millet, maize and cotton as soon as possible and give farmers the benefit of MSP. “On one hand, BJP MLAs are protesting against the chaos in the mandis and on the other, their party leaders are holding rallies in Gohana. This shows everything is not well in the BJP,” he added.
