Organic board staff stir hits certification process

Jotirmay Thapliyal

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 23

The process of certification of several organic farmers has been delayed as the field employees of the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board are on a strike for the past 10 days because of the non-payment of salaries for months. They have also been demanding regularisation of service.

The field employees are 52 in number. They conduct on-the-spot inspections of agriculture being done by farmers to ensure they are adhering to the rules of organic farming before certifying them as organic farmers. It is noteworthy that an organic farmer uses only cow dung as manure in cultivation and does not use chemical-based fertilisers or pesticides.

Since the creation of Uttarakhand, the government has been keenly pursuing to make the state an organic state and has been promoting organic farming in a big way. The Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board has so far managed to bring about 68,528 hectares of agriculture in the state under organic agriculture. Over one lakh farmers have been registered in recent months, who, now, have to undertake the first phase of organic certification process that has now been delayed due to the stir. It takes minimum three years for a farmer to be completely organic and a farmer has to undergo various phases of certification process, where these field employees have an important role.

Most of the agitating field employees are employed with the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board since 2003. They work on a contractual basis and claim that they have been neglected. They have been demanding regular jobs for long but the immediate challenge they face is the non-payment of salaries. They claim to have not received travel allowance for the past 10 years.

Sarvesh Sharma, president of the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board Field Employees Association, said, “The last salary we drew was in March. No salary has been paid since then. It is becoming difficult for us to make our both ends meet.” Sarvesh along with others has been staging dharna at the Parade Ground.

The protesters have decided to stage a protest march to the Chief Minister’s residence tomorrow. “Chief Minister Harish Rawat should understand that while he hopes to make Uttarakhand organic, the field employees, who are the backbone of the organic board, are suffering,” said Gurudev Rana, one of the protesters.

Om Prakash Lakhera, an organic farmer of Balawala, who reached the Parade Ground dharna site to support the agitators, said the organic board staff was very supportive who encouraged them towards organic farming. “Farmers and field employees of the organic board have always worked hand in hand. Thus I am here to stand with them in their hour of crisis,” he said, adding farmers from across the state would participate in the Dehradun rally tomorrow.

Vinay Kumar, Managing Director of the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board, said the concerns of the field employees were in the knowledge of the board. “As per the practice, the field employees are being paid under various time-bound projects which at times result in discontinuity of payment. We are trying to streamline it,” he said, adding that the employees had been urged to return to work.