Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The sudden stoppage of wheat procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP) by the government for 4 days, till March 31, angered the farmers who staged a protest at the Laxmibai Nagar Anaj Mandi on Tuesday morning.
Taking advantage of the government’s absence, the private traders started quoting a price of wheat below MSP (Rs 2125) at around Rs 1700 to 1800 per quintal, which infuriated the farmers.
The farmers were not aware that the government wouldn’t be buying wheat till March 31, as the decision was taken on Monday evening and the message could not be circulated. The purchase has been stopped as the wheat is moist after the recent spell of showers and it needs to be dried, otherwise, it would get spoilt during storage.
Taking advantage of the fact that the government was not purchasing wheat, the private traders started quoting a price of around Rs 1800 per quintal, which is well below the MSP of Rs 2,125 per quintal. Angered by this, the farmers created a ruckus in and outside the mandi and staged a chakka jam outside the mandi.
SDM Munish Singh Sikarwar rushed to the spot and listened to the problem of the agitating farmers. He informed the farmers that wheat procurement had been stopped by government agencies and the reason behind it. Subsequently, the farmers withdraw their agitation.
Wheat procurement at MSP will continue
In damage control mode, the state government cancelled the order stopping procurement of wheat at MSP till March 31, on Tuesday evening. The government said that wheat procurement on MSP would continue uninterrupted at the designated centres during the prescribed period.
District supply controller ML Maru informed that the state government cancelled the order suspending wheat procurement from March 28 to March 31.
In all, 97 centres have been set up in the district for wheat procurement, and the work will continue at these centres till May 10.
