Will take to streets if decision to stop paddy purchase not revoked: Farmers to govt

Sangrur/Muktsar, November 10

The decision to close 204 of 219 paddy purchase centres in Sangrur and Malerkotla from Wednesday evening and the remaining from Thursday has angered farmers.

After a meeting at Sunam, farmers have decided to launch an agitation if the authorities close any purchase centre. “Officers have no knowledge of when the paddy harvesting will end. Many farmers are still harvesting the crop,” said Amrik Singh, district president, BKU Ugrahan.

As per sources in Malerkotla, till Tuesday evening, the authorities received 4,49,431 tonne of paddy, of which 4,44,661 tonne has been procured. In Sangrur, 14,37,529 tonne of total 14,61,782 tonne of paddy has been bought.

Mandeep Singh, District Mandi Officer, Sangrur, said: “The government has taken this step to prevent paddy smuggling from other states.”

In Muktsar too, the farmer unions have threatened to lodge fierce protests. “After Tuesday, fresh paddy arrival is not allowed. We will procure the already arrived stock in short time. Now, the private purchase of basmati crop will begin,” said Gaurav Kumar, District Mandi Officer.

Meanwhile, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) state secretary Shingara Singh Mann said, “Nearly 30% of the crop is yet to arrive in mandis... Moreover, untimely rain had already delayed the harvesting in most parts of the state.”

Gurpreet Singh, Chief Agriculture Officer said, “As per my knowledge, just a few farmers have kept the paddy at their homes and they’ll have to face issues.” — TNS

Protest in Ropar too

Ropar: Opposing the govt move to stop paddy purchase here from Thursday, scores of farmers protested outside the mini secretariat on Wednesday. Demanding to continue the process till Nov 30, they said nearly 25% of the crop could not be harvested in the district due to delayed monsoon.

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