Madhya Pradesh: Procured wheat damaged in Nisarga-induced rains

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said it was a challenge to safely store wheat in the open, but said farmers will not bear the brunt as they would get full payment for the commodity they sold to the government.

The procurement process was scheduled to end on May 31. However, it’s still going on in areas where farmers have not been able to approach procurement centres for a variety of reasons. The Chief Minister has asked bureaucrats to ensure vehicles are sent from districts where procurement and transportation has been completed to areas where the process is incomplete.

Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath blamed the Chouhan government’s “negligence” for the damage. “Despite rain alerts due to Cyclone Nisarga the government did not act in time which led to large-scale damage to wheat and losses running into crores,’’ the former union minister said.

The Congress veteran said there was a bumper crop and the procurement at minimum support price was delayed. “The government made many a tall claim and shared statistics but the reality was different as farmers suffered. There was a shortage of sacks, there was no facility for weighing and storage at many places which delayed the process.”