Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has once again criticised the BJP-led government over its handling of crop procurement, stating that just like in previous seasons, the government’s claims and promises have proven hollow.
He accused the BJP of deliberately creating hurdles for farmers in mandis to push them towards selling their produce to private agencies at rates below the Minimum Support Price (MSP). According to Hooda, this systematic failure not only betrays farmers but also appears to be part of a larger strategy to benefit private players at the expense of cultivators.
Hooda pointed out that despite the government's announcement to start wheat procurement from April 1, the situation on the ground tells a different story. Many mandis are facing severe logistical issues—tenders for crop lifting have not been finalised, gunny bags have not reached commission agents, and basic facilities like drinking water and operational coolers are missing.
“Forget procurement,” Hooda said, “even drinking water hasn’t been arranged in many mandis. This looks less like a lapse and more like a policy aimed at harassing and looting farmers.”
The former chief minister noted that the arrival of wheat in mandis has started, but the procurement process is far from smooth. Farmers are reporting widespread delays and mismanagement across the state.
In many areas, they are being made to wait due to vague reasons like excessive moisture in the grain or the absence of procurement agencies altogether. Hooda added that mustard farmers are particularly hard-hit, being forced to sell their produce at prices nearly ₹500 below the MSP.
He further emphasised the indifference towards farmers’ convenience, highlighting problems like the delay in issuing lifting tenders, shortage of gunny bags, insufficient cleaning of mandis, and non-functional water coolers.
In several districts, wheat procurement has not even begun. Hooda said that despite repeated promises, the government fails to start procurement on time every season, and this delay leads to crop piling up in mandis without proper storage arrangements. This not only causes logistical chaos but also delays payments to the farmers.
Criticising the government’s hypocrisy, Hooda pointed out that while it charges interest from farmers for even a minute's delay in repayment of dues, it pays no interest to farmers when their payments are delayed for days or even months.
He stressed that this pattern of seasonal delays in procurement forces helpless farmers to sell to private players well below MSP, thus defeating the entire purpose of the support price mechanism.
He concluded by saying that the BJP government’s repeated failures to deliver on procurement promises have exposed its insincerity towards the welfare of farmers and revealed a clear bias towards promoting private profiteering at the cost of the farming community.
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