Urban Mirror Correspondent
Lucknow, November 14: The Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) today assailed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for not making adequate arrangements for the procurement of paddy in the state. The LGP said like previous year the government agencies responsible for procurement of paddy 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 Wednesday that as against the minimum support price of Rs 1750 per quintal for common variety of paddy the farmers, facing massive financial crunch for rabi crop, are being forced to sell the produce at around Rs 1200 to Rs 1500 per quintal in open market. The spokesman said even Niti Ayog at its meeting here on Tuesday with the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has pointed that minimum support price is not being paid to farmers in paddy procurement. The spokesman said the situation is grim in the rural areas and the possibility of achieving the target of 50 million metric tonnes of paddy appeared to be difficult. The spokesman said even previous year also the government could not achieve the target because of mismanagement at the government centres forcing the farmers to sell paddy at low price in open market. The spokesman said similar situation is prevailing this year also.
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 paddy crop small and marginal farmers are always in need of money for rabi crop and 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 rabi 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 improve the situation causing wide-spread resentment in the rural areas.
