Chandigarh: Farmer organisations on Saturday resolved to launch a united struggle against alleged irregularities in crop procurement, sales below the minimum support price (MSP), and conditions imposed during the purchasing process in Haryana.
A decision in this regard was taken at a joint meeting of two major farmers’ organisations — the Samyukt Kisan Morcha Haryana and the Haryana Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Morcha — held in Narwana town to discuss issues affecting farmers across the state.
The meeting was jointly chaired by Rattan Mann, Lakhwinder Aulakh, Balbir Singh and Mandeep Nathwan. Representatives of 23 constituent organisations affiliated with the two farmers’ fronts participated.
The organisations announced that they would hold three-hour protests by locking down market committee offices in all districts on October 14 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The demonstrations will target alleged exploitation of farmers in mandis, the sale of crops below the declared MSP, what the organisations described as anti-farmer procurement conditions, and unauthorised deductions.
The leaders warned that if the government failed to address farmers’ demands despite the protests, they would announce important decisions on the next phase of a larger agitation that same day.
Briefing the media after the meeting, farmer leaders said cultivators were facing serious difficulties during the ongoing paddy procurement season. They cited per-acre limits on paddy and millet procurement, district-specific restrictions, repeated difficulties with the online portal, and alleged unauthorised deductions from crop payments.
According to the leaders, farmers are being forced to wait for long periods in mandis and navigate multiple obstacles to sell their produce. The two organisations also alleged that paddy and millet were being sold in Haryana’s mandis at prices below the declared MSP. They pointed out that the MSP for paddy is Rs 2,461 per quintal and for millet Rs 2,900 per quintal, and argued that the government must be held accountable if farmers are receiving less than these rates.
The leaders questioned who was responsible for ensuring that farmers received the prescribed prices for their crops and why the government was avoiding accountability when produce was allegedly being purchased below MSP.
Rattan Mann, state president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, said farmers worked day and night to produce food for the country but faced difficulties, unnecessary restrictions and low prices when it was time to sell their crops.
“Declaring an MSP has meaning only when farmers actually receive the prescribed price for their produce,” Mann said, adding the government must answer for below-MSP prices for paddy and millet and the restrictions imposed during procurement.
–IANS–
