District Collector Prashant J. Patil said on Wednesday that every Sunday should be observed as a ‘harvest holiday’, in the wake of large-scale paddy stocks already reaching milling units leading to congestion and damage to grain before procurement.
Along with Superintendent of Police A.V. Ranganath, he was addressing harvest machine owners at his office, and said that the request was to ensure smooth procurement process while also being able to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for quality harvest.
Following a brief stand-off by rice millers on Tuesday in response to seizing a mill allegedly for procurement violations, which led to farmers waiting with their produce on the roads, various managements had submitted to the Collector that pendency of paddy-loaded tractors would continue for four days.
Serpentine queues outside milling units and damage to paddy during the waiting period was indirectly affecting the miller’s ability to pay MSP, was the common complaint.
Mr. Patil also requested owners to voluntarily call off harvest business on Thursday, so that long-waiting tractor queues could be cleared on priority.
Mandal and village-level officials should spread awareness among farmers about the waiting stocks for procurement, and harvesting of the predominant fine variety paddy in Miryalaguda should be done as per time and space available with the milling units, he said.
Mr. Ranganath asked officials to open dedicated WhatsApp groups for procurement and better coordination. Police officials would also keep a tab on harvest businesses that take up the exercise at nights, he said.
