With paddy arrivals picking up in Punjab and Haryana, farmers in both agrarian states have claimed they are not getting full MSP for their crop, and blamed the nexus between rice shellers, officials of procurement agencies and others for the "scam".
As the procurement of paddy is going on in Punjab and Haryana, farmers said they were getting less than minimum support price (MSP) for their crop on the pretext of high moisture content and the state authorities have "turned blind eye" to the "scam" despite claiming all arrangements for the smooth procurement of the crop.
"Farmers are not being paid the MSP of their crop in several grain markets of Haryana. There is a nexus between rice shellers, officials of procurement agencies and Arthiyas (commission agents), who are operating in several mandis and denying the full MSP of paddy to growers on the pretext of high moisture content," Bhartiya Kisan Union (Haryana), President, Gurnam Singh said today.
He claimed that on an average, farmers were being paid at least Rs 100 per quintal lesser than the MSP of the crop.
The Centre has fixed MSP of paddy at Rs 1,470 per quintal for common variety and for Grade A variety it is Rs 1,510 per quintal.
He said rice shellers have deployed their own men to determine the moisture content in the mandis and usually showed the moisture in the crop beyond the limit of 17 per cent and then imposed "arbitrary cuts" on MSP.
"We even observed in one of the mandis in Haryana that despite the moisture content in paddy was 14 per cent, some farmers were paid Rs 1,300 per quintal," he said adding the situation was "bad" in mandis of Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal and Yamunanagar.
This "loot" of farmers came even as the Manohar Lal Khattar government had given relief to growers few days back by way of procuring paddy with up to 22 per cent of moisture content by adjusting the weight in accordance with the moisture content, he further said.
The situation in poll-bound Punjab with regard to procurement is also similar with farmers in neighbouring state also claiming lesser prices of paddy in the ongoing procurement season and even resorting to protest in some parts of the state.
"Farmers are being harassed in mandis. They are not being given MSP of their crop," claimed BKU (Ugrahan) General Secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan.
"There is an anomaly in the meters of moisture content. When government agencies official check paddy, the content remains under the specified limit. And when rice shellers check the moisture, it comes out more than the 17 per cent limit and here the problem lies which is disallowing growers the MSP," said Karan Kaur, Congress MLA from Muktsar in Punjab.
"We thought that at least SAD-BJP government will not let farmers face any difficulty in selling their produce as assembly polls are due next year. But it does not seem so," Koki Kalan said.
Yesterday growers in Muktsar even blocked traffic on Muktsar-Jalalabad road to protest against the lesser prices of their crop.
Punjab and Haryana are expecting 130 lakh MT and 65 lakh MT of paddy procurement this season.
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