Tardy wheat lifting leads to glut in Haryana mandis
The problem is especially grave in the major wheat-producing districts, including Karnal, Kurukshetra and Kaithal, where out of the total 10.15 lakh MT procured, at least 80% is still lying in the mandis. Currently, around five lakh MT wheat is arriving in the mandis on a daily basis.
With harvesting on in full pace, arrival of wheat in the mandis of Haryana has also started picking up steam but slow lifting has led to a glut-like situation.
Currently, around five lakh MT wheat is arriving in the mandis on a daily basis.
The problem is especially grave in the major wheat-producing districts, including Karnal, Kurukshetra and Kaithal, where out of the total 10.15 lakh MT procured, at least 80% is still lying in the mandis.
As per information, nearly 8 lakh MT wheat has arrived in the mandis of Karnal out of which only 4.58 lakh MT has been procured and only 1.47 lakh MT has been lifted. The rest is lying in the mandis and purchase centres of the district.
In Kurukshetra, out of the total 2.44 lakh MT wheat procured by government agencies so far, only 20,124 MT wheat has been lifted while the remaining 2.24 lakh MT wheat is lying in the mandis.
Naresh Kumar, a commission agent of Kurukshetra, said, “We are facing problems of space as lifting is very slow. Around 4,000 bags of procured wheat is lying in our shop. We do not have space to unload more wheat as our space is occupied.”
As per reports, around 90% of the procured wheat is lying in the open as sheds are already filled to the capacity.
Farmers and arhtiyas in Kaithal raised the issue of slow-lifting and shortage of space and sheds with the chief administrator of Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board during his visit to the mandis on Saturday.
Payments also delayed
Tardy lifting has also delayed disbursement of payments to farmers.
Stating that payment will be disbursed after lifting and generation of J-Forms, officials said that slow-lifting of wheat is largely due to delay in approval by the Centre to grant relaxation in procurement norms for damaged and shrivelled grains.
Due to crop damage caused by unseasonal rains, the Centre has allowed procurement with value cut.
On Saturday, the Haryana food and supplies department also issued a notification in this regard that farmers who have sold their produce to the government on minimum support price of ₹2,125 per quintal will get full payment as the government will bear the cost of value cut for the damaged and shrivelled grains as announced by the chief minister.
