No relief, Haryana veggie growers bitter

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, September 13

The Haryana Government’s Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana (BBY) has proved a “bitter” pill for bitter gourd growers in the district who are awaiting compensation for the loss suffered by them last year.

Officials mum

I had sold 80 quintals of bitter gourd at loss... gave all papers in June last year, but the officials are yet to respond. — Joginder Singh, Farmer

The scheme was introduced to protect the farmers from losses if the prices of some specified vegetables fell below the fixed rate.

The farmers from Mubarkabad village in Gharaunda block are running from pillar to post to get compensation as they had to sell their crop at Rs 5-6 per kg against the government price of Rs 13.5 per kg during the lockdown last year. They claim they have deposited all relevant documents at the office of the Karnal market committee. Joginder Singh, one of the farmers, said, “I had sold 80 quintals of bitter gourd at loss. Even after depositing all papers in June last year, I have yet to get the compensation.”

Similarly, Amandeep Kaur and Major Singh, who had each sold around 45 quintals below the fixed price, are yet to get relief. A market committee official said the documents deposited by the farmers were forwarded to the authorities at the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board headquarters. 

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