Space crunch forces wheat dumping in the open

Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Sanghi (Rohtak), April 20

Huge quantities of wheat lies dumped in the open alongside a storm-water drain near Sanghi village. This wheat was purchased by commission agents, but it stays dumped due to shortage of sacks and lack of space at the Sanghi grain market.

Inquiries made by The Tribune revealed the practice to store wheat in the open along the drain as well as roadsides has been going on for years. Sanghi is Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s ancestral village.

Repeated requests by the villagers and commission agents for the expansion of the grain market have fallen on deaf ears so far.

The commission agents or arhtiyas who have purchased the wheat from the farmers said they were awaiting the provision of sacks and lifting arrangements by the Hafed authorities.

They added they have been camping along the roadside for the last few days. “We have got nearly 1,000 sacks so far, while we require at least 5,000 sacks to store all this wheat lying in the open,” said Azad Singh, a local arhtiya who has been guarding his purchase.

Arhtiyas at the Sanghi grain market alleged the stitching of wheat sacks had taken a hit due to the erratic supply of electricity in the area.

Tall claims made by the authorities have fallen flat as there are no arrangements to protect this wheat in case of rain or dust storms. Heaps of wheat have also been dumped along the Rohtak-Panipat national highway near Jasia village.

Hafed inspector Rajesh Kumar, who has been deployed at the Sanghi grain market, said the purchase and lifting process was in progress and the procured wheat would soon be lifted. He said 14,355 metric tonnes of wheat had been purchased so far.