‘Last-minute’ basmati price surge fails to enthuse farmers

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, November 24

Basmati farmers across the state are feeling let down over a “untimely” rise in prices of various varieties in the past couple of days after a majority of them have already sold their produce at low prices.

Alleging it a scam at the instance of the BJP government, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said he would meet Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki on November 27 and request him to order a probe into it.

Pusa 1121 basmati that sold at Rs1,600 per quintal last month fetched Rs3,050 per quintal in Sirsa and Rs3,200 per quintal in Taraori mandi on Monday. Prices of the Muchhal variety too shot from Rs1,550 last month to Rs2,800 per quintal.

Though the prices came down by 5 per cent today, these are still almost double of the last month’s rates.

“Nearly 80 to 85 per cent of farmers have sold their crop,” said Gurdial Mehta, former president of the Sirsa Arhtiya Association.

Lala Sewa Ram, patron of the Haryana Rice Millers Association and owner of Hanuman Rice Mill at Taraori, said less quantity of basmati was coming to the markets now.

Haryana Kisan Manch state president Prahlad Singh Bharukhera said farmers had been fleeced with the connivance of the BJP government. Swaran Singh Virk, general secretary, Haryana Kisan Sabha, demanded a bonus of Rs500 per quintal to those farmers who have already sold their crop.

“After a scam in special girdawari, the paddy scam has come to fore in the first year of the BJP government’s rule. Under a plan, the government announced to buy PB-1509 variety of basmati at the minimum support price (rates of parmal) allowing millers and hoarders to fleece farmers at will. Farmers were forced to sell their produce in distress at Rs1,200 per quintal for which payment was claimed from the government at Rs1,450 per quintal,” Hooda said.

The former CM said farmers and the state exchequer suffered the loss of Rs4,000 crore by first preparing separate records for the purchase of parmal and PB 1509 basmati and then making joint entries of the varieties.

“Millers are preferring parmal as levy rice (mandatory supply by millers to public distribution system) which is available in MP and other states at Rs20 a kg,” Hooda said.

Terming the BJP of working against the interests of farmers to benefit hoarders and black-marketers, Hooda demanded a probe into “paddy and girdawari scams”.