Randeep Singh Surjewala condemns hike in HRDF fee on paddy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 20

Congress national general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala today termed the decision to increase the Haryana Rural Development Fund (HRDF) charges on paddy as ‘anti-farmer’ and ‘anti-trader’ and demanded the BJP-JJP government should withdraw it immediately.

Condemning the decision to increase the HRDF fee from 0.5 per cent to 2 per cent on all varieties of paddy, including 1509, ‘muchhal’, ‘sarbati’ and 1121, Surjewala said it was a short-sighted decision made during the pandemic.

“Farmers will have to sell paddy in mandis of the neighbouring states or to traders at a rate cheaper by Rs 100-120 per quintal,” he claimed. He said the Khattar-Chautala government had increased the market fee from 0.5 per cent to 2 per cent last year, causing loss to farmers, arhtiyas and rice millers. This new decision would worsen the situation, he said.

Surjewala said the government had asserted the markets would not end, but the decisions being taken were not in the interest of farmers. —

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