Stating that no payment of farmers should be left pending before Diwali, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday asked the officers engaged in the procurement of Kharif crops to pay farmers of their procured corps within a fixed period of seven days.
There will be no tolerance for any delay in payment on behalf of the procurement agency, arthiyas, and bankers, he said, adding that the matching of ‘J-Form and I-Form’ is an internal matter of the procurement process. They can be matched later, but the farmer must be paid first.
The Chief Minister was presiding over a review meeting of officers of the departments concerned engaged in the paddy procurement process.
In the meeting, Khattar made it clear that if there is any payment pending before October 15, 2020, it should be released immediately. The validity of tokens issued to the farmers for November 14 should be extended till November 16, 17, and 18. There should be no need to give fresh tokens to farmers.
The Chief Minister directed the Headquarter-level officers to ensure that the generation of ‘H-Form to J-Form, Gate Pass, I-Form’ for paddy procurement, lifting from Mandi to Warehouse and approval of I-Form should be made online. He said that it should also be ensured that within one week of the release of the H-Form or within 72 hours of the receipt of the I-Form, the farmer gets the payment for his purchase at all costs.
Khattar said that the entire process staggers if any officer or employee engaged in the procurement process is negligent. He said that the responsibility of everyone from Secretary of Mandi Board to Arthi, Miller and Transporter should be fixed. Every rice mill attached to each market should be allocated stock in a proportionate manner, he added.
The Chief Minister said that a chart of the entire process should be prepared mandi-wise, farmer wise, and arthiya-wise and it should be uploaded on the website so that anyone can access it. He said that most importantly the farmer should be aware of the day on which his ‘H-Form’ has been released and accordingly he can come to the mandi. He said that he himself will continue to supervise the entire procurement process on the dashboard from Chandigarh.
It was informed at the meeting by the Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs Department that earlier the procurement process was offline, now it has been made online.
All types of information like on which day the H-form, J-form, gate pass and I-form were released, on which day the District Food Controller Officers or bankers will have to click the Pay Now button for online payment, will be available on the website.
It was also informed at the meeting that, it is expected that Kharif crops to be sown this year includes paddy in 38 lakh acres, cotton in 18 lakh acres, millet in 12 lakh acres, and sugarcane in 2.40 lakh acres.