Labour shortage hits wheat lifting at Panipat, Sonepat grain markets

Tribune News Service

Mukesh Tandon

Panipat, May 3

The shortage of labour due to the Lok Sabha elections has hit the lifting of procured wheat from the grain markets in the district. Almost 98 per cent of the crop has reached the grain markets and lakhs of bags are lying there.

Labourers home due to polls

Almost all grain markets in Panipat have been cleared but the Madlauda and Samalkha grain markets were facing some problems... Most of the labourers come from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, but due to the elections, there is around 40 per cent shortage of labour. — Sunil Gulia, Lifting Contractor

At 90.3%, Karnal tops the list in lifting

• With the lifting of 90.38 per cent of the procured wheat, Karnal district is on top of the list in the state, followed by Panipat with 82.04 per cent lifting and Yamunanagar with 81.73 per cent lifting till Thursday evening.
• Mahendragarh is at the bottom of the list, with the lifting of only 46.42 per cent of the procured wheat crop after Sonepat, where only 63.79 per cent of the wheat produce has been lifted up to May 2.

As per record, a total of 70 per cent of the procured wheat has been lifted by the agencies in the state and 30 per cent procured wheat is still lying at grain markets.

Due to tardy lifting, as many as 15 lakh bags are lying in the Gohana grain market of Sonepat district, 4.5 lakh bags at the Madlauda grain market and around 3 lakh bags at the Samalkha grain market of Panipat district.

As per data, with the lifting of 90.38 per cent of the procured wheat, Karnal district is on top of the list in the state, followed by Panipat with the lifting of 82.04 per cent of the wheat and Yamunanagar is on the third position with 81.73 per cent of procured wheat having been lifted till Thursday evening.

Mahendragarh is at the bottom of the list, with the lifting of only 46.42 per cent of the procured wheat crop after Sonepat, where only 63.79 per cent of the wheat produce has been lifted up to May 2.

Vinod Sehrawat, president, Gohana grain market, said the lifting was so tardy that as many as 15 lakh bags were still lying in the grain market even as 95 per cent of the crop had been procured so far. According to data, a total of 1,42,954 MT wheat has been procured in the Gohana grain market so far, of which 84,596 MT procured wheat has not been lifted so far.

“The lifting contractor is new in the field and he said shortage of labour and vehicles were major reasons for the delay. There is also a problem due to improper linkage with godowns,” Sehrawat added.

Sunil Gulia, lifting contractor, said almost all grain markets in Panipat district had been cleared but the Madlauda and Samalkha grain markets were facing some problems. “The main reason behind the delay in lifting is the shortage of labour,” he said.

“Most of the labourers come from Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, but due to the Lok Sabha elections, there is a shortage of labour of around 40 per cent. The transporters had to manage all the work with only 60 per cent of the required labour,” he said.

“At the Madlauda grain market of Panipat district, the total procured wheat is going to Adani’s silos at Naultha, but due to the shortage of labour, it takes 7-8 hours for unloading a vehicle. As many as 4.5 lakh bags are lying in the grain market,” Gulia added.

Apart from this, three lakh bags have been lying in the Samalkha grain market as the bags were going to the Murthal godown and the process was taking time due to the shortage of labour,” he said.

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