Senior bureaucrats appointed nodal officers for monitoring crop procurement process in Haryana: Chautala

Senior bureaucrats have been appointed as nodal officers for monitoring procurement process for mustard and wheat, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said on Monday.

To ensure that the procurement goes on smoothly, officers of Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary level have been appointed as nodal officers for on-the-spot grievance redressal, a statement quoted him as saying.

Besides, all Deputy Commissioners have deputed a procurement officer and an accounting clerk at every mandi and procurement centre for the convenience of the farmers, he added.

Chautala, who also holds the portfolio of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, said a cash credit of Rs 22,000 crore has already been arranged to ensure timely release of payment to farmers for wheat crop.

On opposition Congress alleging mismanagement in procurement process, he said that some leaders of the opposition parties are unable to digest the fact that the procurement process is going smoothly despite lockdown and are making statements in the media to mislead the farmers.

Chautala said that as per the information given on 'Meri Fasal Mera Byora' portal, a farmer can bring as much yield as he wants to sell in the mandis as there is no restriction.

The entire 1,600 quintals of wheat produce of a farmer was purchased in Panipat mandi recently, he said, citing an example, while hitting out at the opposition which has alleged that crop lifting is slow and not entire produce of farmers is being procured.

He said as soon as the wheat procured from the mandis is lifted and sent to the godowns, the payment of both the farmers and the 'Arthiyas' or commision agents is made on the third day of lifting.

Chautala, whose party JJP is a coalition partner of the BJP in the state, said that in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, arrangements have been made for sanitizers, masks, and soaps, among others, in the mandis and social distancing norms are being followed by all.

He said GPS has been installed in all the vehicles engaged in the lifting process of foodgrains. The vehicles which enter the mandi and procurement centres are sanitized first.

He informed that the number of mandis for wheat, which was initially at 389, have been increased to 1,895 after addition of 1,507 new centres, while 112 new procurement centres have been added for mustard.

Similarly, 30 mandis or procurement centres have been established for gram.

He said that wheat is being procured at a minimum support price of Rs 1,925 per quintal, mustard at Rs 4,425 per quintal and gram at Rs 4,875 per quintal.

Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, Sanjeev Kaushal said that62.44 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat has been procured from 3,99,432 farmers in the state in the last 19 days.

As much as 5.69 lakh MT of mustard has been procured from 2,10,319 farmers.

Mustard and wheat procurement in the state began from April 15 and April 20, respectively.