Haryana government Friday announced that it will procure wheat in a staggered manner to avoid crowd formation during the process in wake of the increasing spread of novel coronavirus across the country. This comes a day after Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced that the government will begin wheat procurement from April 20. The state government has prepared three phases for wheat procurement. The first phase will begin on April 20 and end May 5, while second is from May 6 till May 31 and third from June 1 till June 30. For the first phase government has proposed MSP of Rs 1925 per quintal payable to the farmer. For second phase it has proposed an incentive of Rs 50 per quintal over and above the MSP and for third an incentive of Rs 125 over the MSP. In a letter to Union government’s Secretary (Food and Public Distribution) Ravikant, Haryana’s Additional Chief Secretary (Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs) PK Das said, “The Government of Haryana proposes that wheat procurement should be done in staggered manner, so as to ensure smooth procurement. This can be facilitated by incentivizing farmers to delay and stagger arrival of food grains in the mandis. This will reduce the burden of carry over cost to certain extent and avoid glut in the mandis. This will also help contain the possibility of spread of epidemic as well in this season”. Haryana government has also sought Centre’s approval for reimbursement of the incentives as proposed for wheat procurement in Rabi season 2020 and to approve it as a policy for future procurements. The harvesting season in Haryana is scheduled to begin next week. State government has given harvesting a go head and permitted farmers to go into their fields during the nationwide 21-day lockdown period. The lockdown period is scheduled to end on April 14. Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the BJP-JJP combine, which got farmers’ votes by promising to double their income by 2022, was now ridiculing them by proposing to stagger the procurement till June 30. “Government’s proposal is a cruel joke played with farmers. Chief Minister is rubbing salt on farmers’ wounds by telling them to keep the harvested crop in their homes only. The past years’ trends show that farmers sell their harvested wheat in mandis from April 1 till April 20. It seems that CM and his deputy Dushyant Chautala do not understand the fact that if farmer will not harvest his crop in due course of time, the crop will get damaged,” he said. The Congress leader said that more than 90 per cent farmers of Haryana own less than 5 acres of land. “How can government expect a farmer to keep his harvested crop at his home for three months till June 30? Farmers have to pay his debts also. If the procurement is delayed till June 30, how will the farmers repay their debts? If the Rabi crop is harvested in June, how will the farmer sow next Kharif crop? As such farmers had been waiting for the compensation promised by the state government for their crop damage. Has the Union government forgotten that country’s food security is dependent on Haryana and Punjab? Doesn’t the Union government know that Punjab and Haryana contribute 65 per cent in the national pool of food grain?” Surjewala further added that BJP government still owes Rs 1.74 lakh crore to Food Corporation of India. “In five years, FCI’s debt has increased to Rs 2.65 lakh crore . If FCI is shut, who will procure farmers’ crop,” he asked. Rs 500 crore released to municipalities for ration facilities All the anganwadis in Haryana have been directed to ensure supply of dry ration of one month at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries during the next three days. “The Finance Department is releasing Rs 500 crore to all the municipalities and all Deputy Commissioners would ensure that the funds are used only for maintaining essential services,” Chief Secretary Keshni Anand Arora said. “For the smooth distribution of dry ration to the beneficiaries of Anganwadis, Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) would be authorised to issue area and date bound passes. Apart from this, detailed instructions have been issued by the police department regarding uninterrupted movement of trucks carrying essential items,” Arora added. The Chief Secretary also directed the Social Justice and Empowerment Department to prepare a list of disabled, destitute and orphan children so that the officers and officials of the department could personally visit them to enquire about their wellbeing and ensure that they are getting all necessary facilities. State government has also directed officers to ensure that food packets in adequate numbers are being distributed to the workers in unorganised sectors. “There is enough stock of pulses and mustard oil available in the state. The free ration for the month of April to be given to those living below poverty line and poor people of other categories would reach to the concerned depot by April 5,” she added. Foreign returned persons must be traced at the earliest “All-out efforts should be made to trace the foreign returned persons who are missing or are untraceable. Similarly, those who are in the quarantine be contacted at the earliest to ensure that their health is being regularly monitored by the health officials. Apart from this, DCs are directed to visit COVID-19 hospitals set up in the state and take stock of the facilities available there,” Arora said. Officials due to retire this month may be retained “In view of retirements this month, if the DCs, heads of the departments and Additional Chief Secretaries want the services of any employee to be extended, their services would be extended with the prior approval of the competent authority on case to case basis. Those who are retiring this month would not be required to make frequent round of offices for NOC and retirement dues. A provision has been made as per which the pension and retirement benefits would be automatically deposited in their bank accounts,” she added.
