Sehore: Principal Secretary Health Gauri Singh reached Sehore mandi on Monday to review implementation of Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana and interact with farmers to know about their problems. When, during auction process, she asked farmers to give their comments on the concept and implementation of the scheme one of them candidly asked her, “What will happen madam if your salary is deducted. How will you run your household,” The PS was left speechless.
Farmers told the PS that before the scheme was announced, they were getting higher price for their produce. As soon as the scheme was announced, traders whittled down the rates. Soybean, which was selling for Rs 3500-4000 per quintal before the scheme, is now selling at half the previous rate. The traders have formed a cartel to decide the rate at which they would buy the produce. The farmers also complained that despite chief minister’s announcement they were still getting only Rs 10,000 instead of Rs 50,000 in cash. Traders told the principal secretary that they were ready to pay Rs 2,800 per quintal for Soybean provided it had only up to 2 per cent impurities. However, Soybean being brought by farmers to the mandis was of inferior quality.
Gaur Singh told the farmers that they could always air their grievances with collector and other officers. She said that the farmers have not understood the Bhavantar scheme. She said that in case they received lower-than-MSP rate, then the difference would be reimbursed by the government. She said that price of a produce depends on its quality.
Interestingly, when the auction was conducted in the presence of the PS, traders increased the rates. They bought Soybean, which they were buying for Rs 2000-2200 earlier for Rs 2400-Rs 2600.
