Away from electioneering, farmers, arthiyas battle procurement pangs

SANGRUR: Away from the hustle and bustle of electioneering, farmers in Punjab’s grain markets are battling problems like shortage of gunny bags and tardy lifting of their wheat harvest. For them, the Lok Sabha elections could not have come at a more inapt time.
TOI visited grain markets in Dhuri and Bhawanigarh areas of Sangrur to find farmers and commission agents (arthiyas) complaining that the government agencies had not provided them stocks of Bardana (gunny bags) for over a week.
On Wednesday, irate commission agents of the area staged a protest in the Sangrur market to demand smooth procurement of their wheat stocks lying in the grain markets. “The entire procurement process has been hit due to indifference of the government agencies. We took up the matter with the district administration,” said Jagtar Singh, president of the association of commission agents in Dhuri.
Sitting idle, youth in grain markets discussed the three-cornered fight in the constituency this time between sitting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann, Congress candidate Kewal Dhillon and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) nominee Parminder Dhindsa. At some places, the farmers rued that they had been in the grain markets for over a week.
“We had voted for Mann in the last election but Dhindsa, as the finance minister too had sanctioned funds for developmental projects and this grain market too has been build with grants during his tenure. Dhillon too hails from Bathinda and is aware about the problems of this region,” said Amarjit Singh, a 30-year-old farmer in village Ghrachon.
“We are missing out on the electioneering, busy with either harvesting or selling our produce. But we have been following the candidates on their Facebook live posts to know their agenda. Most people will make up their minds only in the last few days of campaigning,” added Kamaljit Singh, a 45-year-old farmer in village Dhuri.
Even though wheat harvest is complete at most places in the area, mechanised harvesting going on in random fields can still be seen. But unlike the paddy season, it was only a few fields that had been set on fire to get rid of the stubble. Crop fires due to short circuits is another problem being faced by farmers, especially at a time when standing crop is ripe for harvesting and catches fire instantly and the entire field is gutted in no time.
“The government should come up with a policy for immediate compensation of farmers as the amount of loss in such fires is much more. Accidental fires have become a big problem during this season,” said Ranjit, a farmer from village Bhuran.