The contractors have to provide the labour and transport.
Faridkot
The commission agents and farmers from grain market Kotkapura are complaining of the sluggish lifting of the procured wheat from the yard.
The inclement weather sends them into a tizzy because if it rains at any time, nearly 7 lakh of gunny bags are feared to get wet.
“About 7 lakh gunny bags are still lying in the open filled with the procured wheat in the grain market Kotkapura. We had also written to the DC, DFSC and DMO Faridkot to speed up lifting earlier. Though the lifting had been sped up after the intervention of the DC, by opening two godowns at village Sandhwan, with a capacity of 8 lakh bags, but again the lifting has lost pace,” said Ashok Kumar Goel, president of the commission agents association Kotkapura.
“The weather is very bad and we are afraid of the procured stock getting wet if it rains,” said Ashok Kumar Goel.
“The contractors are supposed to provide sufficient transport and labour for loading and unloading. But now at the point of unloading, there is shortage of labour. If the vehicle is loaded from the grain market, it takes more than 48 hours for getting unloaded at the godowns,” alleged Ashok Kumar Goel.
The ahartias alleged that as per the rules, the procurement agencies are bound to do lifting in 72 hours after the procurement.
Taking action on the letter of the commission agents, Gurlal Singh, secretary of market committee Kotkapura has already written to the concerned agencies and contractors to provide sufficient labour and vehicles for transport to relieve the ahartias from this burden coordinating with each other.
The secretary has further written to them to help get the special trains arranged by contacting the higher authorities.
The lifting of the procured produce hits both the commission agents and farmers, as losses come down to the farmers end for compensation.
It also leads to a glut in the market leaving little space for unloading new arrivals and traffic jams in the grain market.