Kurukshetra farmers await subsidy

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, August 2

Nearly 2,500 farmers of the district who cultivated sunflower and maize under the crop diversification programme await a subsidy of Rs 1,500 per acre.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) chief Gurnam Singh Charuni said the subsidy should have been transferred in the farmers’ bank accounts by the time of sowing sunflower and maize.

The produce has been brought to the market, but there is no sign subsidy yet.

Nearly 2,000 farmers had cultivated sunflower on nearly 8,375 acres, while nearly 500 farmers had cultivated maize on 3,375 acres.

To provide the subsidy, online registration of farmers was done in February and March. Their Aadhaar cards were linked with their bank accounts so that the subsidy could be transferred into their bank accounts.

Besides, a survey was undertaken to make sure that farmers who got themselves registered had sown sunflower and maize.

“Earlier, farmers protested for the procurement of sunflower seeds. Now, they are waiting for the subsidy,” Charuni said, adding the state government had filed an affidavit in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, submitting that it would procure sunflower seeds at the MSP from June 1, but the BKU had to protest to get the procurement started.

Charuni said “The government makes promises, but never fulfills them. It is the farmer who is at the receiving end. The government must release the money soon.”

Wazir Singh, Deputy Director, Agriculture, (DDA) said: “The matter was raised before the higher authorities recently. It has been found that due to some technical reason, the transfer of subsidy got delayed. It is likely to be transferred within 10 days.”