NEW DELHI: The Centre on Saturday assured farmers that paddy procurement in Haryana and Punjab will begin from October 3, two days after it said the process will be delayed this year.
The Centre’s reversal came after farmers from the two states staged angry protests at several places. Some thousand farmers even gathered outside the residence of Haryana chief minister Manohar Khattar to protest the delay in procurement.
“The procurement (of Kharif crops) will start from tomorrow in Haryana as well as Punjab,” said Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey.
On Thursday, the Centre had postponed procurement of kharif paddy in Punjab and Haryana — which usually begins on October 1 — to October 11.
It said decision to postpone the process was taken as the crop maturity is delayed and moisture content in fresh arrival is beyond permissible limits owing to recent heavy rains.
Farmers stage protest
Earlier, in Karnal, the Haryana Police used water cannons to disperse protesting farmers after they tried to lay siege on Khattar’s residence.
In Shahabad and Panchkula, the agitators used tractors to break police barricades to reach houses of BJP leaders, including Haryana minister Sandeep Singh, officials said.
The situation became tense in a few places in Haryana and Punjab after minor clashes broke out between farmers and police.

In several places in these states farmers after reaching residences of ministers, legislators and MPs, parked their food grain-laden trolleys in front of their houses.
In Punjab, farmers gathered outside the residences of several Congress legislators, including state assembly Speaker Rana K P Singh in Rupnagar and MLA Harjot Kamal in Moga, and staged protests over the delay in purchase of paddy crop.
Police said that there was no report of any “major” untoward incident from the two states.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) had on Friday given a call for holding protests outside the residences of legislators in both states to register their protest over the delay in purchasing paddy crop.
Centre blinks
Following the protests, the Centre announced that the procurement process will now begin from tomorrow, instead of October 11.
The decision came after Choubey, who is minister of state for consumer affairs, food & public distribution, met with Haryana CM Khattar in the national Capital.
“Due to delay in monsoon, the Centre had postponed start of procurement of paddy & millet to Oct 11 from Oct 1 this year … There are demands for an early start. The procurement will start tomorrow,” Haryana CM Khattar told reporters after the meeting.
Farmers had expressed apprehension that they would suffer if their crop is not purchased at the grain markets.
Paddy crop, though in small quantity, has started arriving in mandis (markets) especially in border areas of Punjab, farmers said.
They said the farmers who have brought their crop at mandis, will go if their crop is not purchased. Some fear that they would be forced to sell crops below the minimum support price to private traders.
The SKM called off the demonstrations after the central government agreed to procure paddy starting October 3.
(With inputs from agencies)