Surjewala accuses BJP govt of betraying farmers and arhtiyas

Congress MP and party general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJP government in Haryana, accusing it of betraying farmers, labourers and commission agents (arhtiyas).

During his visit to Kaithal’s new grain market along with local MLA Aditya Surjewala, he said despite the heavy arrival of paddy, millet and cotton, the government had failed to ensure fair procurement and minimum support prices (MSP).

“Neither MSP-based procurement is being done, nor has the government compensated farmers for flood damage. Fertiliser black marketing is rampant. The government is invisible when farmers need it most,” Surjewala said.

He termed Chief Minister Nayab Saini’s promises of timely procurement as “mere election stunts.”

“When the driver is unskilled, how will the vehicle run? The CM should step down from his helicopter to see the pain of farmers and labourers, who have been forced to wander in mandis during Navratri and Diwali,” he said.

Surjewala alleged that while the government pretends to raise MSPs, it refuses to purchase crops at those rates. He claimed that paddy farmers in north and central Haryana were being forced to sell their produce at a loss of Rs 400-Rs 500 per quintal against the official MSP of Rs 2,389.

Similarly, in southern Haryana, where the millet MSP is Rs 2,775 per quintal, not a single grain has been procured despite the government’s announcement on September 23, he said.

The Congress leader cited similar neglect in Hisar and Bhiwani mandis, alleging that government agencies had purchased only 70 quintals of millet and none of the 33,540 tonnes of moong that arrived there. Cotton, too, was selling between Rs 6,500 and Rs 7,200 per quintal, far below the MSP of Rs 8,100, he added.

Accusing the state of large-scale fertiliser black marketing and anti-farmer policies, Surjewala criticised the rule restricting fertiliser supply to only those registered on the ‘Meri Fasal, Mera Byora’ portal.

“How will farmers growing non-MSP crops like basmati, guar and moong survive?” he asked.

He also condemned the government for reducing the commission of arhtiyas from Rs 55 to Rs 45.88 per quintal — a move, he claimed, that had caused a loss of about Rs 1,500 crore annually to over 50,000 families dependent on grain trade.