Urban Mirror Correspondent
Lucknow, May 3: The Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) today assailed the Uttar Pradesh government for not making adequate arrangements for the procurement of wheat in the state. The party said like previous year the government agencies responsible for procurement of wheat have failed to put up basic facilities for purchase at the centres in rural areas, which has forced the farmers for distress sale in the open market.
The spokesman of the party said here on Thursday as against the minimum support price of Rs 1735 per quintal the farmers facing massive financial crunch are being forced to sell the produce at around Rs 1500 per quintal. The spokesman said the situation is grim in the rural areas in the state and the possibility of achieving the target appeared to be difficult. The spokesman said while traders have purchased large quantity of wheat from the farmers directly at lower price, the middlemen in league with officials active around the government centres are purchasing wheat at around Rs 1500 per quintal and selling it to centres at Rs 1735 per quintal. The spokesman said there is massive exploitation of farmers at these purchase centres with the levying of charges of Rs 60 to Rs 80 per quintal in the name of loading-unloading expenses. The spokesman said even the recent surprise visit of chief minister Yogi Adityanath to the centres in Shahjehanpur and Lakhimpur Khiri have failed to activate these centres in the state.
The spokesman said last year also similar situation had prevailed because of mismanagement at the centres forcing the farmers to sell wheat at low price in open market. The spokesman said while farmers are facing immense problems the government has turned Nelson’s eye. The spokesman said despite several past experiences the state government agencies have failed to take any lesson to mitigate the sufferings of the farmers. Immediately after wheat crop small and marginal farmers are always in need of money to meet out other requirements and they could not hold the product for a long time forcing them to sell it at throwaway prices. The spokesman said even as farming community prepares for next crop power crisis and shortage of irrigation water have further added woes to them. The spokesman said the government has so far not taken any measures to improve the situation causing wide-spread resentment in the rural areas.
