Farmer has to be paid in 7 days, no delay will be tolerated: Khattar to procurement officers

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar

HARYANA CHIEF Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday told officers engaged in procurement of Kharif crops that “the farmer has to be paid within a fixed period of seven days”.

“There will be no tolerance for any delay in payment on behalf of the procurement agency, arthiyas and bankers. Matching of ‘J-Form and I-Form’ is an internal matter of the procurement process. They can be matched later, but the farmer must be paid first. No payment should be left pending before Diwali,” Khattar said during the review meeting of officers of departments engaged in paddy procurement process.

The CM made it clear that if there is any payment pending before October 15, it should be released immediately. “The validity of tokens issued to farmers for November 14 should be extended till 16th, 17th and 18th. There should be no need to give fresh tokens to farmers,” Khattar said.

“The chief minister directed the headquarter-level officers to ensure that the generation of ‘H-Form to J-Form, Gate Pass, I-Form’ for paddy procurement, lifting from mandi to warehouse and approval of I-Form should be made online. He also said that it should be ensured that within one week of release of the H-Form or within 72 hours of receipt of the I-Form, the farmer gets payment for his/her purchase at all costs,” a state government spokesperson said.

Khattar also told the officers that “the entire process staggers if any officer or employee engaged in the procurement process is negligent. It is the responsibility of everyone from secretary of Mandi Board to arhtiya, miller and transporter should be fixed. Every rice mill attached to each market should be allocated stock in a proportionate manner”.

Officers were told that “a chart of the entire process should be prepared mandi-wise, farmer wise, and arhtiya-wise and it should be uploaded on the website so that anyone can access it. The farmer should be aware of the day on which his/her ‘H-Form’ has been released and accordingly he/she can come to the mandi. The farmer will continue to supervise the entire procurement process on the dashboard from Chandigarh”.

The food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department apprised the chief minister that earlier, the procurement process was offline, and now it has been made online.

The government is expecting Kharif crops including paddy in 38 lakh acres, cotton in 18 lakh acres, millet in 12 lakh acres and sugarcane in 2.40 lakh acres to be sown this year.

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