Facing space crunch, farmers unload paddy on Bathinda-A’sar NH stretch

A stretch of the Bathinda-Amritsar national highway (NH) between Kothe Hazura Singh and Bargari villages in Faridkot district has turned into a makeshift grain market.

Farmers, left with no option, can be seen unloading their paddy produce on the road itself.

Notably, this is a toll road with heavy traffic.

The temporary grain market, being run from a filling station site here, is full to its capacity.

The scene reflects the procurement arrangements, which are posing a risk to motorists.

“We have been here since morning with tractor-trailers loaded with grain. There is no space in the temporary grain market, and we can’t afford to take the crop back, so we unloaded it on the road itself,” said a farmer.

On the national highway being used as a grain market, Munish Kumar, District Mandi Officer, Faridkot, said, “The Bargari grain market was closed in the past, and a vacant space for the filling station and truck lay-bye, along the NH has been taken from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to be used as a temporary grain market at Bargari village. According to my team, only one farmer had unloaded his produce on the highway itself, and he is now loading it back and will shortly clear the site.”

Gurjit Singh, District Food and Civil Supplies Controller, Faridkot, said, “So far, 4,06,073 MT of paddy has arrived, of which 3,96,065 MT has been purchased by government agencies and 2,97,421 MT lifted.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Punamdeep Kaur claimed that every effort was being made to ensure that farmers did not face any kind of inconvenience in the grain markets.

Notably, in the past, even cremation grounds have been used as makeshift grain markets in some villages in the Malwa region. Such scenes have been a common sight at Badal village in Muktsar district during every crop harvesting season.