BHOPAL : Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, after getting feedback from bureaucrats on their three-day tour to rural areas, lashed out at the Agriculture Department here on Friday.
At the inaugural function of a group discussion at the Academy of Administration, Chauhan said that the farmers were suffering as the Agriculture Department was not performing its duties at the ground level.
He said farmers were not even being told about the fertilisers or pesticide they should use and in what quantity. Farmers have to buy fertilisers and pesticides at inflated prices from the market. Chauhan said Agriculture Extension Officers were not doing their work. There was no arrangement for guiding the farmers and there was a need to overhaul the department’s set-up and functioning at the ground level. He said Crop Insurance Scheme has become a stunt for the farmers. There is a need to link scientists and students of Agricultural Universities with the farmers. Chauhan said the officers, who toured villages have told him about the practical problems the farmers were facing and also suggested solutions. Chauhan said despite adequate availability of electricity, there were problems in supply networks. Irritants like delay in replacing faulty transformers, erroneous electricity bills and granting of temporary connections for four months should be removed. The farmers who had sown mixed crops have suffered lesser loss than those who had sown only one crop. The functioning of Mandis needs to be improved so that farmers get the right price for their produce. Arrangements of fertilisers, seeds and drinking water should be made at the Mandis.
Stop dams should be constructed and water in lakes should be impounded. He said the officers who went on tour informed him that the PDS was functioning well and that the poor people are getting ration at proper rates and in time. Chauhan said there is a need to review the system of paying subsidies and wages through banks as complaints had been received in this regard. Arrangements to provide results of soil testing to farmers should be made soon.
