Chandigarh- Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal has directed the officers to make arrangements to ensure hassle free Rabi procurement season for Mustard starting from April 15, and Wheat from April 20 so that farmers don’t face any trouble to sell their crops in the mandis.
The Chief Minister said this while presiding over a review meeting regarding the arrangements made for the procurement season with the concerned officers, today.
He also discussed procurement arrangements with Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Mr. Jai Prakash Dalal and his Principal Secretary, Mr. Rajesh Khullar through video conferencing.
He further said that keeping in mind that procurement of mustard and wheat is only five days apart, there is a possibility that both crops are procured together and in order to accommodate both the crops, separate procurement centers apart from the existing mandis are required to be built. For this, the sheds of Radha Swami Dera Satsang buildings will be used for purchase.
He said that Mustard is procured through HAFED and Haryana Warehousing and Wheat is procured through Food Corporation of India. This year, the minimum support price for Mustard has been fixed at Rs 4425 per quintal and Rs 1925 per quintal for Wheat. In the mandis, if the bid price of the crops is less than their minimum support price then the difference is compensated under the Bhavantar Bharpaii Yojana. He said that the Government is committed to purchase each and every grain of the crops of farmers. He said that this time, the actual bid for crops in the mandis will be assessed from the headquarters at Chandigarh and for this, Siwani Mandi of District Bhiwani has been selected as a pilot project for online auction.
He said that the procurement of these crops will be done by issuing coupons after collecting the data registered on "Meri Fasal Mera Byora” portal by the farmers. Farmers of four and five villages will be asked to bring crops as per the serial number to the Mandis for their convenience. During the lockdown due the Corona virus epidemic, changes have been made in the procurement dates.
It was also informed in the meeting that in addition to its prescribed mustard quota, HAFED can also procure mustard for NAFED.
Due to the lockdown caused by the Corona virus, the Central Government had sought suggestions from all States for procurement management in Mandis.
In the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Dushyant Chautala, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, Mr. Sanjeev Kaushal, Additional Chief Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Mr. P.K. Das, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. V. Umashankar, Deputy Additional Principal Secretary, Mrs. Ashima Brar, Chief Administrator, Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board, Dr. J. Ganeshan, Director, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Mr. Chandra Shekhar Khare, Managing Director, Haryana Warehousing Corporation, Mr. Rajeev Ratan, and other officers were also present.