Farmers block Amritsar-Delhi national highway over paddy procurement

Farmers blocked traffic on the Amritsar-Delhi national highway and squatted on the road for nearly an hour to protest against alleged non-procurement of their paddy crop or procurement at lower prices.

Former Punjab minister, Joginder Singh Mann, addressed the farmers at the protest site at Sugar Mill Crossing on the highway on Saturday.

Mann alleged that even though paddy procurement had started about two weeks ago, "procurement agencies were either not procuring the produce or forcing farmers to sell paddy at extremely low rates."

Mann accused the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata party (SAD-BJP) government "of being anti-farmer despite its daily drumbeating about being their custodian."

The farmers alleged that their paddy had not been procured for the past 11 days, though the procurement began two weeks ago. "We are being pestered under one pretext or the other by the procuring officials, who want us to sell the crop at Rs 700-1,000 per quintal, while the government rate is Rs 1,345, because they (officials) say the grains either had excess moisture or were discoloured/of poor quality," the protesters alleged. They claimed that the quality of the grain was being spoiled as a result of lying unprocured in the market.

The protest was called off after Phagwara sub-division Superintendent of Police Gursevak Singh Brar assured the farmers of a solution to their problem. However, when contacted, additional deputy commissioner-cum-administrator, market committee of Phagwara, S K Singla, refuted the charge that the paddy crop was not being procured.

"Only the paddy that has moisture far in excess, or has discolouration and is sub-standard, and which does not fulfill the laid-down specifications, is not being procured, while the rest of the crop is," he said. He also refuted the charge that officials were forcing the farmers to sell the paddy crop below the minimum procurement price.

TROUBLE IN THE BREAD BASKET
| Farmers allege their paddy has not been procured for the past 11 days, though the procurement began 2 weeks ago
| The say they are being pestered by procuring officials, who want them to sell the crop at Rs 700-1,000 per quintal, while the government rate is Rs 1,345, because the officials say the grains either has excess moisture or are discoloured/of poor quality

| The additional deputy commissioner-cum-administrator, market committee of Phagwara, refutes the charge