No place in mandis, farmers in dilemma over harvesting

Farmers have been delaying the harvesting of their crops as they don’t know where will they keep their produce. To delay the process of harvesting is not feasible, because it will damage the crop.

Mandis are filled with paddy grains. “Such scenario has come up for the first time,” said farmer Bhupinder Singh, a farmer from Khambra village. He is yet to reap crop on 10 acres. “Things have been slow. You can see the situation here at the mandi. There is hardly any space for the new arrival of the crop,” he said.

There are scores of gunny bags filled with paddy that are lying in the mandi under the shed and in open. The crop was also getting dried outside the mandis in front of arhtiyas office.

Farmer Jit Singh from Bhatija village was also seen sitting near his produce at the mandi. “Asi fase hoye aa. (We are stuck). The crop that I have got here hasn’t got lifted yet. It is getting tough for me to take a call whether should I cut the rest of it now or not. Where will I keep it,” he said.

DC Himanshu Aggarwal today directed officials to ensure smooth lifting of paddy, stating that any kind of negligence will not be tolerated. He emphasised that SDMs should continuously monitor the procurement centres under their subdivisions to ensure no issues arise in any market.

Dr Aggarwal said till date 1,09,903 metric tonnes of paddy had arrived in the district’s markets of which 1,03,230 MT had already been procured.

Reviewing the procurement arrangements, the DC instructed officials to ensure smooth and timely procurement, lifting and payment in the district’s markets, stressing that farmers should not face any issues.