Bhavantar scheme a sham, procure vegetables at MSP: Bhupinder Singh Hooda

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had introduced the ‘Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana’ three years ago for promoting cultivation of vegetables, horticulture and other crops. In a televised address last month, he had claimed that under the project, 500 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have already been set up in Haryana and now the number would be increased to 1,500 so that farmers can easily sell their crops.

Hooda, however, claimed that vegetable farmers are not getting even Re 1 to 2 per kg of their produce while the consumer is paying the usual Rs 20-30 per kg for the same vegetables. Farmers from Yamunanagar to Dadri, Sonipat, Panipat, Karnal and Bhiwani are facing acute financial distress and are on the verge of bankruptcy, Hooda said.

“Farmers in Dadri are sitting on a hunger strike after farmers in Tosham had launched a similar protest over the same issue. Every tomato-growing farmer is facing a loss of several lakh rupees and is forced to feed his produce to cattle. The government is indifferent to the condition of these farmers. The farmers demand that the government immediately compensate them for their loss by getting special survey done,” the senior Congress leader said.

He said that even sunflower and maize farmers are victims of governmental neglect. “On one hand, the government is asking farmers to grow maize instead of paddy, while on the other, they are not ready to procure the produce. The mandis of Pipli, Ladwa, Baban, Kurukshetra and Ismailabad are filled with unsold maize crops. Instead of MSP of Rs 1,760, farmers are forced to sell it at Rs 1200-1300 per quintal. The anger among the farmers is increasing”.

“Sunflower farmers are also facing difficulty in selling their produce as registrations on ‘Meri Fasal, Meri Byora’ portal have been stopped. “Most of the farmers who grow two crops in the same season are not able to make an entry on the portal. For example, farmers who grow maize after sunflower and potato after mustard often face problems in registration,” Hooda said.

“The government is avoiding making purchases from the farmers on the grounds that they have not registered on the portal. This is the reason why farmers producing vegetables, maize and sunflower of the state have reached the verge of financial ruin. The opposition requests government to shun its anti-farmer attitude and buy all the crops on MSP and compensate farmers for losses they have suffered in the last few months,” he said.