The Congress accused the BJP-JJP government in Haryana on Tuesday of betraying the state's farmers by "dilly-dallying" on the issue of wheat procurement.
The state government has amended its decisions with regards to crop procurement six times in a short span, the main opposition party claimed.
"They made six U-turns in a period of nine days which reflects the anti-farmer mindset as also a designed conspiracy not to procure wheat crop at the minimum support price of Rs 1,925 per quintal," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters via video-conferencing.
He claimed that the "frequent changing of decisions and the new diktats have brought the wheat procurement system to the brink of ruin.
"Till April 27, only 21.60 lakh metric tonnes of wheat have been procured, as against 91 lakh metric tonnes during the corresponding period of 2019," Surjewala said.
He said farmers were already facing a lot of hardship and now an order has been issued under which "crop procurement will not take place for a day on April 29 at the procurement centres in the state".
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Surjewala further said the government last month had promised to give Rs 50 to Rs 125 per quintal bonus on wheat to farmers, but chose to remain silent when procurement began on April 20.
"In another U-turn, the Arhitiyas or commission agents were first asked to open new accounts in seven private banks, a decision which they withdrew later. Earlier, the government had said procurement will be made through gram panchayats, a decision which was also reversed later," he added.
The Congress leader referred to an April 27 order of the state government regarding wheat procurement and said the chief administrator, Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board, had directed all the 'mandis' or grain market secretaries "to ensure that the payment should be given directly into the farmer's bank account by the procurement agencies".
Earlier, the government had said that it will make payment to 'Arhitiyas', who will then pay the farmers.
Replying to a question, he said there is a systematic conspiracy on the part of the state government in defeating the system of procurement.
"Their intent seems to harass the farmers as also the commission agents and the labourers so much that at the end of the day, the farmer is constrained to sell the wheat crop under distressful conditions at prices much lower than the MSP.
"What else explains that in nine days, they have to change their stance on six different occasions? The only reason is there is mal-intent on part of the Khattar government in procuring the wheat crop.
"They want to leave the farmers at the mercy of market forces to ensure that MSP does not have to be given and the wheat crop is left for distress sale by the farmer at the mercy of certain middlemen," Surjewala alleged.
Replying to a question, he said Chief Minister Khattar had not visited a single mandi or grain market while his deputy, Dushyant Chautala, visited only couple of them to take stock of arrangements.
On accusations levelled against him of violating social distancing norms during his visit to the 'mandis', Surjewala said he always followed the norms and even wore a mask.
At the same time, he said, "Every leader be that of the ruling or the opposition party has a right to listen to problems and highlight them. Yes, social distancing and wearing masks is a must. But they (ruling party leaders) will not go themselves and not let others go lest their shortcomings are highlighted.
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