Centre, state govt responsible for tardy paddy lifting: Farmers

A monthly meeting of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) was held here on Saturday to discuss issues faced by farmers of the region.

Addressing the meeting, Harinder Singh Lakhowal, president of the union, said the tardy lifting of paddy was due to the step motherly treatment of the Central Government and non-caring attitude of the state government. As a result, the farmers of Punjab were in distress.

“Farmers are not being given the MSP as guaranteed by the government. The procurement started in October and now, it is November and the paddy is still lying in the grain market. The government promised payment after 24-hours of the sale of the produce but it remained a false promise,” he said.

The crisis has deepened as private rice millers had refused to store government paddy due to limited-storage capacity, use of short-duration paddy varieties encouraged by the state government and there were problems related to labour and commission arrangements at grain markets. “Farmers are always at the receiving end. Even if we agree and adopt what the government says, we are in trouble. If we do not follow, we face problem. We adopted short-duration varieties but now our produce is not being lifted,” he said.