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MP farmers who sold crop outside mandi, duped of crores by traders

About 150 farmers allegedly defrauded of over Rs 5 crores; Harda SDM starts probe

mp-farmers-duped Farmers at the Harda district collectorate where they submitted their complaint

Amid reports of farmers getting duped by traders outside the mandi (agriculture produce market) system, comes another shocker in Madhya Pradesh where 150 farmers from four districts were allegedly defrauded of over Rs 5 crore by two trader brothers from Dewas.

These traders purchased white chickpea (dollar chana) and green gram (moong) crops from the farmers in the open market and failed to pay them. Some farmers were given payment cheques that bounced later, they alleged.

Of these, 19 farmers from Harda district have lodged a complaint and the sub-divisional magistrate – the competent officer under the newly promulgated Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 – has started the probe and conciliation process.

These farmers had sold around 1,131 quintal of chickpea and 1,291 quintal of green gram to the Dewas-basesd trader brothers – Suresh Khoja and Pawan Khoja – who promised them prices well above the minimum support price (MSP) and cited the new farm laws for the proposed purchase outside the government-run mandi system.

A memorandum by the farmers says that they were promised Rs 6,000 per quintal for moong and Rs 7,000 per quintal for the dollar chana, and payment within two days of purchase of crops.

The farmers said that they had been solicited by the traders door-to-door and promised higher price for produce for sale outside mandi under the new farm laws.

Farmer Kanhaiya Patel of Sonkhedi in Harda said that they were not paid even a single penny by the traders who have now stopped taking their phone calls. He alleged that about 150 farmers from Harda, Khategaon in Dewas, Hoshangabad and Nasrullahganj in Sehore district were defrauded in similar manner of crop worth Rs 5-7 crore.

Another farmer Sohan Jat of Deotalab in Harda said that the cheque given to him by the traders bounced.

After the traders stopped taking phone calls, the farmers reached Khategaon in Dewas at the given address of Khoja Traders but found the brothers absconding. They then approached the Khategaon SDM but were told that the case did not fall under his jurisdiction and they finally submitted a complaint with the Harda district collector.

Harda collector Sanjay Gupta, while talking to THE WEEK, confirmed that the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) court had registered a case on basis of official complaint of two farmers and notices have been issued to the traders. SDM Shruti Agrawal has also constituted a conciliatory committee under the law and other farmers have also been asked to make their complaint in official format as per law. "I have also asked the district superintendent of police to register a criminal case in the matter if the farmers wish so," the Collector said.

Joint collector of Harda district Shyamendra Jaiswal, who had received the complaint from the group of 19 farmers, told THE WEEK: “The first aim is to reach a conciliation between the two parties so that the farmers can get their due payments. However if this fails, further action according to the farm law will be initiated,” he said.

Similar cases have been reported resently from Hoshangabad, Seoni, Gwalior, Guna, Balaghat, Barwani and Jabalpur districts. The respective district administrations could resolve three of these cases including that in Hoshangabad and Jabalpur.

The Hoshangabad (Piparia) episode was widely publicised by the state government as being the first case in the country of providing justice to farmers under new farm laws as traders were made to pay the farmers their due for sold paddy crop. 

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