Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala on Sunday lambasted the state BJP government for deliberately creating absurd complexities, arbitrary hurdles and procedural bottlenecks in the procurement process.
“Keep creating complexities, hurdles and procedural obstacles—reduce procurement targets—halt lifting operations—exhaust storage capacities—this is the BJP’s conspiracy!”
He added that after being compelled to withdraw the three anti-farmer ‘black laws,’ the BJP governments at both the Centre and in Haryana are now, on a daily basis, conspiring to dismantle the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops through the ‘back door.’
Holding a press conference, he pointed out that the primary condition imposed for wheat procurement is that the farmer must transport the crop in his own tractor-trolley; the registration number of that tractor-trolley must be clearly inscribed on it; a photograph of the tractor-trolley and its number will be taken at the ‘mandi’ gate. The photograph will be uploaded to the government’s portal; and only after that the process for issuing a gate pass to the farmer proceed further.
He questioned, “Does every farmer possess ownership of their own tractor-trolley? If not, what are they expected to do? If a farmer brings a different tractor-trolley on different occasions (which they may have hired for the purpose), will the portal accept the different tractor-trolleys and varying registration numbers brought by the same farmer each time?”
Talking about the second condition, he pointed out that the government wants farmers to bring their produce to the ‘mandi’ for sale only between 6 am and 8 pm; and no gate passes will be issued after this stipulated time.
“Farmers typically harvest their wheat crops using combine harvesters, which operate around the clock and become available at varying times. During the harvest season, crops continue to arrive at the ‘mandi’ throughout the night. Will the restriction on bringing crops to the ‘mandi’ between 8 pm and 6 am not create severe difficulties for the farmers? Will this not result in the formation of long queues outside the ‘mandi’?
Regarding the condition that every farmer who registers their crop on the ‘Meri Fasal, Mera Byora’ portal must personally visit the ‘mandi’ to provide their biometric thumb impression, Surjewala questioned that does the BJP government fail to understand that, until the entire harvest is complete, the farmer remains in the fields, while family members or fellow labourers simultaneously transport the harvested produce to the ‘mandi’?
