Farmers to Benefit from 9% Interest on Delayed Procurement Payments, Says Dushyant

Dushyant Chautala, Haryana's deputy chief minister, announced on April 8 that the state government will pay farmers 9% interest if payments for foodgrain purchase are delayed.

During a press conference, he stated that the government's initiative to move purchase payments to farmers' accounts was a success. During this year's kharif procurement, the state government will follow the same practise of depositing payment directly into farmers' bank accounts within 48-72 hours. "If there is a payment delay, they will be paid with 9% interest," he added.

He stated that the state has 408 grain markets for wheat procurement, 102 for mustard, 11 for legumes, and 25 for barley. So far, over 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of wheat have arrived at grain markets, with 18,000 metric tonnes procured. Various government organisations purchased 67 lakh metric tonnes of wheat last year. Despite crop damage caused by hailstorms this year, the same amount is projected to be obtained. The state government has made appropriate plans to buy 76 lakh metric tonnes of wheat.

Dushyant stated that in light of crop damage caused by rain and hailstorms, he has written to Union Minister of Consumer Affairs Piyush Goyal demanding a waiver in wheat moisture content. Following this, a Central Government team performed a survey, and he is optimistic that the Centre would provide some relief to farmers.

Farmers who have sustained losses as a result of the recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms should upload their reports to the e-Kshatipurti portal by April 9 so that girdawari can be assessed. Dushyant claimed that a three-tier drone mapping has been done in 6,260 villages of 22 districts to make them 'lal-dora free'.

He stated that around 25.14 lakh property IDs had been generated, with 23.94 property IDs being returned to their owners. The remaining 5% IDs will be finished in the next two to three months.

He stated that large-scale mapping is also being completed in the state, and that each property will be colour-coded. There are a total of 7,115 revenue estates. The state government has set a March 2024 deadline for completing large-scale mapping work.