Chandigarh: The Central government has implemented three agricultural laws with the objective of doubling the income of farmers. One of them is the Agricultural Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance.
The government has brought this law to fulfil the dream of 'One Nation, One Market'.
According to the new law, now the farmer of any state can go to any other state and sell his crop.
Haryana became the first state to implement this law. However, the dream of ‘One Nation-One market’ does not seem to be coming true in Haryana.
After the new law came into force, farmers of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh also came to Haryana to sell their paddy crops.
While some of the farmers could manage to sell crops, some others faced disappointment as their crop was not bought in the markets of Haryana.
The situation is such that after the enactment of the law, in the very first season of paddy sales itself, the government's dream of 'One Nation One Market' seems to be failing.
A farmer from Uttar Pradesh has approached the Punjab-Haryana High Court for not being able to sell his crop in Haryana.
This farmer informs that he came to the depot in Haryana to sell paddy, but the Haryana government refused to buy his crop.
The Punjab-Haryana High Court has ordered that the Center, Punjab and Chandigarh administration should also be made a party in this matter. Alongside, the High Court has sent a notice to the Haryana government and summoned for an answer.
The Haryana government has sought time to submit its reply to the High Court and the next hearing of this case is scheduled to be on November 12.
Malika Aggarwal, the advocate for the farmer who is the petitioner, informed that the farmer is a resident of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
"Over there he and his family own 75 acres of land on which a grade Super 5 variety of paddy was sown. His intention was to sell the crop in Haryana. However, the Food Corporation of India and other state agencies banned it and the District Collector (DC) of Karnal stopped him from selling the crops," he said.
The petitioner's lawyer informed that the farmer was not allowed to enter the Haryana border by the Karnal DC.
"In such a case, a petition was filed by the petitioner in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Taking cognizance of this, the court has summoned a reply from the Haryana government," Aggarwal added.
Guidelines for farmers of other states
Under the new policy of the state government, the farmer can sell his paddy crop in Haryana, but he has to follow a systematic process. According to this guideline, farmers of other states cannot sell their crops directly in the depots of Haryana.
Farmers of other states will have to apply online to sell crops; in this application, the farmer will have to give complete information about himself and his crop.
A Depot will be allotted after submission of this application and the farmer from other states can only sell his crop to government agencies in the allotted depot.
Another important point is that the Haryana government will first buy the crops of the farmers within the state of Haryana.
Farmers who will come from outside will only be given a chance after the farmers of Haryana have been taken care of.
Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar and Agriculture Minister, JP Dalal have already made an announcement about this important rule. Due to this, many farmers from other states could not sell their crops.
Also Read: 'Chakka jam' against farm laws gets huge response in Punjab, Haryana
