Punjab, Haryana To Buy Paddy From Tomorrow, Says Government Amid Protests

Paddy and millet procurement in Haryana will start tomorrow, Chief Minister ML Khattar said Saturday afternoon, hours after more than 1,000 angry farmers gathered outside his residence in Karnal district to protest against the government’s delayed purchase of their crops.

“Due to delay in monsoon, the central government had postponed start of procurement of paddy and millet to October 11 from October 1 this year… There are demands for an early start. The procurement will start tomorrow,” Mr Khattar said.

The U-turn in the government’s position came after a meeting today between Mr Khattar and junior Union Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs, Ashwini Choubey.

Mr Choubey also said paddy procurement would begin in Punjab as well.

Earlier today between 1,000 and 1,500 angry farmers launched a protest outside the Chief Minister’s home in Karnal, demanding that procurement begin immediately.

Visuals from the area showed farmers standing on a pile of yellow police barricades and shouting angrily, while a handful of security forces in riot gear look on.

The farmers were briefly doused with water cannons by police – with whom anti-farm law protesters have clashed several times this week alone – and who have been deployed in large numbers, with tear gas vehicles, at the spot.

Yesterday farmer leader Rakesh Tikait warned of these protests.

“To demand paddy procurement, farmers will protest outside the homes of BJP-JJP MLAs (in Haryana) and the office of the collector in Punjab tomorrow,” he had tweeted.

Also yesterday, new Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Channi had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi to discuss the farm laws and ask the centre to start buying paddy and millet from farmers.

The Congress (in the opposition in Haryana and in power in Punjab) has warned the centre that a large amount of paddy would go to waste if not picked soon.

“Lakhs of quintals of paddy had already started to arrive in mandis from September 20. Eleven days have passed since then but so far not a single grain has been procured (at MSP) in Haryana,” Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala was quoted by news agency PTI.

He said earlier paddy procurement was to start on September 25 in Haryana.

Mr Surjewala also said around 20 lakh quintals of paddy were lying unsupervised in mandis.

“In Ambala 4.5 lakh quintal paddy has arrived… in Kurukshetra 5.5 lakh quintal… in Yamunanagar 2.25 lakh quintal… in Kaithal 2 lakh quintal and in Karnal 1.75 lakh,” he said, and accused the ruling BJP of “a clear conspiracy to end paddy procurement at MSP”.

Mr Surjewala also said the centre had not fixed specifications for procurement this season, including guidelines for percentage of moisture content and purchase of slightly discoloured or shrunken crop.

Farmers in Haryana, Punjab and other states have been protesting against the centre’s controversial farm laws, which they say will eventually do away with the MSP, or minimum support prices, system, which is the minimum guaranteed price at which the centre buys their crops.

The centre has said the new laws will not affect MSPs and has refused to rule out repeal of the laws.