No purchase in past 3 days; grain market lacks storage space

Sanghi (Rohtak) : Thousands of quintals of wheat has been lying in the open along a canal and in agricultural fields in and around Sanghi village in the district for several days owing to shortage of space at the local grain market/purchase centre, while farmers and arhtiyas of several villages await procurement by government agencies.

“We had brought wheat for purchase by the government agencies, but no procurement has taken place for the past three days. Wheat is lying in the open and it has already rained twice. We covered as much produce as we could, but we have limited resources and there is no support/facility from the government,” lament Ram Kuwar, a farmer, and Naresh Kumar, an arhtiya of Khidwali village, who have been camping alongside the canal to guard the produce.
At the Sanghi grain market/purchase centre, Rajesh, an arhtiya, points out that the centre has a storage capacity of barely 1 lakh bags of wheat (of 50 kg each), while 5-7 lakh bags of wheat are likely to arrive here. Hence, there is no option for the farmers or arhtiyas, but to dump the produce in the open.

“We have been witnessing the same situation for the past several years. Our repeated requests to the authorities concerned in this regard have fallen on deaf ears. The hapless farmers of the area are a dejected lot and do not know which door to knock at,” rues Krishan, a local farmer. Sanghi is the native village of Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Farmers Sheelu and Satbir complain that they had brought their produce on April 8 and have been waiting since then, but no government official has visited the purchase centre to initiate the procurement process.

Most of the farmers have sold their produce to the arhtiyas who are awaiting purchase by the government agencies. The arhtiyas have handed over slips mentioning the quantity of wheat they have purchased from the farmers and have promised to make the payments after they receive the amount from the government agencies.

Deputy Commissioner Dr Yash Garg admitted that wheat produce had to be dumped in the open by arhtiyas/farmers in Sanghi village and this practice has been continuing for several years.

“Efforts are being made to resolve the issue and the officials concerned have been directed to expedite the procurement process and lifting operations so that the farmers and arhtiyas do not face any difficulties,” he said.