Paddy Procurement In Haryana & Punjab To Begin From Sunday After Farmers Protest Outside Legislators' Homes

In several places in these states, farmers reached residences of ministers, legislators and MPs, and parked their food grain-laden trolleys in front of their houses.

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, on Saturday announced that the procurement of paddy crops will start from Sunday in both Punjab and Haryana. 

The decision comes after the Union MoS met with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in the national Capital. 

“The procurement (of Kharif crops) will start from tomorrow in Haryana as well as Punjab,” Choubey told reporters after the meeting, as quoted by news agency ANI. 

Khattar said, “Due to delay in monsoon, the Central Government had postponed the 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”.

Following this, Samyukt Kisan Morcha has announced to withdraw its demonstrations as the farmers’ demand has been met.

Farmers Protest In Haryana & Punjab

Earlier today, farmers broke police barricades and faced water cannons, including near Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's house in Karnal, as they laid siege on residences of legislators and ministers in Punjab and Haryana to protest against the delay.

The agitation began after the Union government on Thursday postponed procurement of Kharif paddy in Punjab and Haryana, which usually begins on October 1, to October 11. 

The reason given was that the crop maturity is delayed and moisture content in fresh arrival is beyond permissible limits owing to recent heavy rains.

In Karnal, the Haryana Police used water cannons to disperse protesting farmers after they tried to lay siege on CM Khattar's residence, news agency PTI reported.

Meanwhile, in Shahabad and Panchkula, the agitators used tractors to break police barricades to reach houses of BJP leaders, including Haryana Minister Sandeep Singh, officials informed.

The situation is reported to have become tense in a few places after minor clashes broke out between farmers and police. 

In several places in these states, farmers reached residences of ministers, legislators and MPs, and parked their food grain-laden trolleys in front of their houses.

In Punjab, farmers gathered outside the residences of several Congress legislators, including state assembly Speaker Rana KP Singh in Rupnagar and MLA Harjot Kamal in Moga, PTI reported.

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask government agencies to begin paddy procurement. On the other hand, Haryana CM Manohar Khattar along with Haryana Agriculture Minister JP Dalal rushed to the national capital to ensure a resolution to the issue.

Meanwhile, as per the police, there was no report of any “major” untoward incident from the two states.

Police personnel were deployed in strength to maintain law and order, the officials said.

The procurement operation is undertaken by the Union government's nodal agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) along with state agencies.

Farmers feared that they would suffer if their crop was not purchased at the grain markets.

Paddy crop, though in small quantity, has started arriving in mandis (markets) especially in border areas of Punjab, farmers said, as reported by PTI.

The farmers stated that those who have brought their crop at mandis, will go if their crop is not purchased. On the other hand, some fear that they would be forced to sell crops below the minimum support price to private traders.