Congress legislative party (ClP) leader Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday said that the farmers, who were hit by natural calamities and were struggling, had to sell wheat as the State Government had not finalised the schedule for Government agencies so far for hundreds of purchase centres. "There has been glut of wheat in the grain markets in the past week but authorities were yet to complete the process for tenders for providing bags, loading unloading arrangements," he said.
Blaming the State for pursuing a casual approach in seeking relief over quality of wheat, Jakhar said that Union Ministry of Food and Public Distribution secretary Sudhir Kumar has also put the state government in dock for not submitting reports well in time.
About 6.5 lakh hectares of wheat fields were affected by rain and hail storm, farmers suffered a loss of about Rs1,885 crore, he claimed. "lacking arrangements, they are now heading towards distress sale," he added. ClP leader urged the state government to streamline the process of purchase of wheat besides approaching New Delhi firmly for getting compensation sanctioned.