Thursday, 01 February 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) said that it is set to hold an agitation at the Niranjanpur Mandi in the city on February 6 if the food grain brokers fail to clear the dues to the farmers.
Providing details, the BKU state president Somdutt Sharma said on Wednesday that the dues of the farmers from Arakot Bangan, Uttarkashi stand at Rs 1.5 crore. “The vegetable market brokers based in the mandi have been sitting on it for over two years, leaving the farmers high and dry. They are presently at the end of their tether,” he said.
Referring to the vegetable market in Dehradun, he said that it is plagued by higher levels of commission, corruption and mistreatment of farmers. “Things are worse here as compared to other states,” he said and added if the brokers do not settle their debts by February 5, farmers from across the State would converge at the Mandi gate and block the entry as part of their stir on February 6. Warning the administration, the farmer leader said that if anything untoward happened that day the responsibility would squarely lie with it.
Accusing the secretary of the vegetable market of sleeping on the spiralling dues of the farmers from the brokers, he said that the stir was also meant to rouse him out of his apathy.
Queried on the issue, a farmer from Uttarkashi Kishor Rana said that since 2016, the vegetable brokers have failed to make payments to the farmers. He stated that he has been cultivating apples in Uttarkashi and selling them to the brokers at Niranjanpur Mandi in Dehradun for many years. “However, since 2016, the mandi brokers have consistently been delaying payments to the farmers which is badly impacting the cultivation process. To further aggravate things for us, the brokers are deducting six per cent as commission from the amount owed to us,” he added.
He further said that with their plight worsening, they are preparing now for the stir slated on February 6. “We will wait till February 5 for the brokers to clear the dues and if nothing happens, we will block the entry of the mandi. If things are not settled even then, we may stage a bigger stir in future,” he said.
