Women sustain injuries during issuance of tokens in Nirmal

Chaos prevailed at Kubheer mandal centre in Nirmal district during the distribution of tokens for jowar procurement. Farmers queued overnight to secure tokens, while some women sustained injuries during the rush. Growers demanded better arrangements and additional counters

Nirmal: The process of issuing tokens to farmers to enable them to sell jowar resulted in chaos at Kubheer mandal centre on Saturday. On learning that tokens would be issued from Saturday, farmers from several villages formed long queues at three counters at the office of Indira Kranthi Pathakam from Friday evening and stayed awake all night. Officials began issuing tokens at 9.30 am, and those standing in queues started jostling with one another, leading to injuries to some women farmers.

The farmers expressed dissatisfaction over the poor arrangements for issuing the tokens. They regretted that they were struggling to obtain the tokens. They said they were being forced to sell jowar to private traders due to the delay in issuance of the tokens, resulting in losses in cultivation of the crop. They recalled that procurement used to be a smooth affair during the BRS regime.

---

They stated that traders were offering Rs 2,200 per quintal against the minimum support price of Rs 3,700 fixed by the government. They requested officials to arrange more counters for issuing tokens to avoid inconvenience to growers. They said they were left with no option but to stand in queues at night, facing the threat of snake bites. Officials said that the area under jowar cultivation in Kubheer mandal was 10,200 acres, while the yield was expected to be 15,000 tonnes. Kubheer is the largest producer of jowar in the district.