After a full day of disruption caused by technical glitches in the portal on Monday, the government’s procurement portal finally resumed operations on Tuesday. However, the prolonged downtime created a massive backlog in grain markets across Karnal district, leading to severe space constraints, brewing resentment and frustration among farmers and transporters.
With weather conditions improving and temperatures rising, harvesting has picked up pace. As a result, farmers are bringing in large quantities of wheat, but poor lifting arrangements have left them struggling to find space to unload their produce.
As per the official data, till April 13, grain markets in the district received 43,27,702 quintals of wheat, compared to 28,84,273 quintals during the same period last season.
Out of this season’s arrivals, only 18,73,843 quintals have been procured, while 24,53,859 quintals remain unsold. Even more worrying, only 2,23,548 quintals of procured wheat have been lifted, leaving mandis choked with stocks.
As per the transporters, the glitch in the portal meant that I-forms were not generated, halting the lifting process. They complained that even after the portal resumed, the lengthy procedure for generating exit gate passes continued to slow down operations.
One transporter explained the ordeal, “Exit gate passes were not generated on Monday as the portal was down in all grain markets. Today it is working, but the process is painfully slow. Once a truck is loaded, the inspector clicks a picture and uploads details on the portal. The message goes to the transporter for confirmation, then to the market committee. Only after weighing is a gate pass generated. After unloading in the godown, an inward slip must be issued. If there is any delay, no further loading can take place. Issuance of inward slip always delays.”
Another transporter said, “Issuance of I-forms is mandatory for exit gate passes. Since the portal was not working on Monday, I-forms were not generated and no lifting took place. We are struggling with these new rules.”
They raised the issue with Deputy Commissioner Dr Anand Kumar Sharma during his visit at Karnal grain market and shared the difficulties they have been facing.
Farmers also expressed frustration. Rajpal, a farmer, said that “We harvested early this morning as the temperature is rising, but now we are not getting space to unload the wheat. There is no space in the mandi, and lifting is very slow. If rains come, our crop will be ruined.”
Another farmer Ramesh said, “We are waiting for hours to unload our produce. The government must speed up lifting and address the technical glitches.”
DC Dr Sharma said the procurement agencies have been directed to speed up lifting. “The procurement agencies have been asked to focus on procurement as well as on lifting of wheat. We assure farmers would not face any difficulties,” he added.
