Jhajjar : Farmers had to wait for hours to sell their wheat crop at the local grain market here as the government agency did not start the procurement process by afternoon on Monday. The Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC) began the purchase in the afternoon and bought 8,320 quintals by evening.
“A lot of preparations has to be done before initiating the procurement process. Since today was the first day, hence, the pre-lunch session was used to make arrangements, but we started the procurement of wheat at minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,735 at 2:30 pm,” said Ajay Beniwal, purchase manager of the HSWC.
He said since the moisture level in the wheat was much higher than the permissible limit, many farmers returned after leaving their produce in the market so that they could sell it after it dried.
Beniwal said the procurement would be made six days in a week by the HSWC and HAFED on rotation basis. HAFED would procure the wheat on Tuesday, while all dried produce found in the grain market was bought by the HSWC on Monday.
Suresh Kumar, supervisor of the District Marketing Committee, said the arrival of over 18,000 quintals of wheat had so far been recorded at the local grain market and around 10,000 quintals was still lying unsold due to moisture content.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Naresh Kaushik inspected the arrangements for procurement of wheat at the grain market in Bahadurgarh town.
He also directed the procurement agency to ensure lifting of the procured wheat so that farmers did not face any problem in bringing their produce. The MLA also motivated the farmers to bring dry wheat to the grain market.
Ashok Sharma, District Food and Supply Controller (DFSC), said a total of 500 quintals of wheat had arrived at Bahadurgarh grain market.