Kaithal (Haryana): A day after the government has decided to commence procurement for the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS), 2021-22 from October 3, senior Congress leader and party’s national general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that Modi-led Central government and Khattar-led Haryana government are not bothered about farmers woes.
Surjewala, while speaking to the media in Haryana's Kaithal on Sunday said, "Both the governments have been missing in action as no arrangements for safe storage of paddy has been made during the inclement weather,”
Launching a scathing attack on the Modi-led central government for its decision to postpone procurement of Kharif paddy till October 11, Surjewala alleged, “The anti-farmer face of the Modi-Khattar governments has been exposed once again. The state government had announced to start paddy procurement from September 25 but has been deferring it time and again. It is merely tormenting the farmers by announcing a new date every other week, which has resulted in 20 lakh quintal paddy to lie idle in various mandis of Haryana under open skies,”
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Surjewala said, "Paddy had started to arrive in state mandis from September 20 and eleven days have passed since then. However, not a single grain of the crop at MSP has been procured in Haryana. This is a clear conspiracy to end paddy procurement at MSP as the BJP-led government does not want to buy the crop at MSP and would rather leave the farmers at the mercy of open markets,"
The Modi government in its October 1 press release admitted that the moisture content in paddy in Haryana is 22.3 per cent. In a letter dated September 30, the Khattar government has clearly written that if the moisture content is more than 17 per cent, paddy will not be procured.
The Congress leader said that almost 20 lakh quintals of paddy are lying idle in the mandis of Haryana, as much as 4.5 lakh quintals of paddy were lying in Ambala mandis, 5.5 lakh quintals in Kurukshetra, 2.25 lakhs quintal in Yamunanagar, 2 lakh quintals in Kaithal, and 1.75 lakh quintals of the crop were lying in Karnal mandis where thousands of farmers were waiting for procurement.
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