11 ‘corporate’ silos in 9 Punjab districts declared wheat procurement centres; will protest, say farm unions
By Raakhi Jagga
As the Punjab government declared 11 silos in nine districts of Punjab, “all managed by private companies”, as procurement centres for sale-purchase, storage and processing of wheat like the previous year, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) said it would oppose the move “to hand over government mandis to corporates”.
“SKM will hold protest demonstrations in Chandigarh on April 8 against the Punjab government’s move to disband 26 agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) coming in Silos areas for the benefit of corporates.”
Balbir Singh Rajewal, BKU (Rajewal) president and SKM national coordination committee member (NCC), said.
According to the Punjab Mandi Board even the last year the government had declared silos as purchase centres for wheat.
According to the Punjab government circular on March 15, Adani Silo in Kotkapura (Faridkot), Leap Agri Logistics in Sahnewal (Ludhiana), Silos in Malerkotla and Ahmedgarh (Malerkotla), My Silo in Sunam and MBR Silo in Chhajali village (Sangrur), Silo in Chhina Village (Gurdaspur),Adani Silo in Moga, VRC Silo in Barnala, Kathunangal Silo in Majitha (Amritsar) and MRB Silo in Chhitanwala village (Patiala) will be the purchase centres for the wheat procurement season apart from the other Mandis of Punjab Mandi Board.
Protesting the government’s move, BKU (Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said, “This is affecting 26 APMCs of Punjab Mandi Board, Their work will be transferred to these private silos. We objected to the farm laws in 2020 for promoting this culture. Now the Punjab government is doing the same. We will protest the move.”
The SKM condemned the government’s decision at its meeting in Jalandhar on Saturday.
BKU (Dakaunda) president Buta Singh Burjgill, who chaired Saturday’s meeting, said, “The government is passing its responsibility to private silos and promoting corporates in the agriculture sector. We are against it, as corporates are always against small and marginal farmers. We will not let this happen.”
The capacity of every silo varies and together they can store 7.25 lakh tonnes of wheat. Several silos have been existing for the past 3-4 years.
Sources said the Director of the Food and Civil Supplies Department of Punjab recommended these silos.
The government pays rent to companies for the storage of food grain in their silos, which are made up of steel and can store wheat in a better way than warehouses of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) or procurement agencies of Punjab, they said.
Punjab Mandi Board secretary Amrit Gill, who issued the circular, said, “Mandi board notifies those mandis/purchase centres which are recommended by the Director, Food and Civil Supplies, while silos are already existing. They were the purchase centres last year as well.”
Kokrikalan, however, said, “This is just the start. The procurement of 26 market committees and mandis coming in these areas have been shifted to these Silos. The Opposition’s silence shows they are for it, too.” Notably, the Union government had in February 2020 stated that it would establish 31 silos in Punjab based on the public-private partnership (PPP) model. A few silos have been made under the PPP model but are being managed by private companies, sources said.
“It is surprising to note why farmers didn’t object to these silos last year or the matter is being highlighted this year because of the elections,” a Mandi Board official told The Sunday Express.
Supporting the farmers, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Congress MLA from Bholath, shared the circular of Mandi board on X and said, “I strongly condemn the anti-farmer decision of Bhagwant Mann to notify private godowns and silos of corporates like Adani as Mandi’s purchase centers in 9 districts of Punjab as per notification, this is one of the 3 laws that led the farmers’ agitation in 2020 due to which BJP repealed these laws.
It is now abundantly clear that AAP government is playing to the anti-farmer orders of BJP.” SKM decides to ‘oppose’ BJP in polls “SKM at its meeting decided to oppose the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls across the country by organizing Mahapanchayats, Jan Jagran Abhiyaan, etc., as the party failed to implement promises made to the farmers in December 2021. SKM will hold a Mahapanchayat in Bihar’s Buxar on April 10 and in Jagraon on May 21 to expose BJP. The theme of the Mahapanchayats will be ‘Modi Hatao Corporate Bhagao’,” Rajewal said. Mahapanchayats will also be organized in other parts of the country in April and May, he said.
This article has been republished from The Indian Express.