Times of India: Kurukshetra:
Tuesday, 04 August 2020.
Based on
the info received under the the Right to Information (RTI) Act regarding the
'Meri Fasal Mera Byora' (MFMB) portal, the Bharatiya Kisan Union's (BKU)
Haryana Charuni group on Monday claimed that the portal was illegal.
Rakesh
Kumar Bains, the spokesman of BKU (Charuni) had filed two separate RTI
applications dated June 24 and 29, 2020, and sought information on 17 points
regarding the legality, objective, and functioning of MFMB from Haryana State
Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB).
Rakesh
Bains said Haryana chief minister (CM) Manohar Lal Khattar had launched MFMB
portal on December 25, 2018, and termed it as a major achievement. The launch
of MFMB had an objective to obtain full information about crops from the
farmers and to remove problems faced by them in selling crops in the grain
market (mandi).
“But now
MFMB portal has become a major problem for farmers. In view of the problems
faced by the farmers to get their crops registered on the portal in the recent
past, I sought information from the department, and many revelations received
under the RTI Act are shocking,” said Rakesh.
He said
the MFMB portal is running without any organisational structure and implemented
without any law.
“I asked
HSAMB that the MFMB portal has been implemented under which law and the board
has replied that it is without any law. The board was asked about the time
table of opening and closing of the portal and it replied that it is done as
per advice from the agriculture department,” claimed Rakesh.
“When
asked about MFMB’s organisational structure, the board replied that there is no
written information about the organisational structure and framework of this
portal. It was decided to implement the MFMB portal in a meeting of HSAMB dated
December 20, 2020. The officials present in the meeting included Vijayendra
Kumar, managing director (MD) HARTRON (Haryana State Electronics Development
Corporation Limited); TL Satyaprakash, director general (DG), SDIT (Skill
Development and Industrial Training Department); Ajit Bala Joshi, director,
agriculture department; J Ganesan, managing director HSAMB, Sanjeev Verma,
director, food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department and RK Beniwal,
chief marketing enforcement officer (CMEO) of HSAMB. It has been implemented on
12 crops, 17 vegetables and three fruits,” added Rakesh.
“There
is no dispute redressal mechanism and the farmers have to protest for their
rights. The board provided information that it is the responsibility of the
farmers to get their crops registered on the MFMB portal, else their crops will
not be procured at minimum support price (MSP) and they would have to sell in
the open market”, told Rakesh.
Rakesh
Kumar claimed that it has become clear from the information given by HSAMB that
MFMB is not for the interests of the farmers but it has been made to keep the
farmers away from MSP.
Rakesh said
BKU would soon move Punjab and Haryana high court against MFMB portal after
consultation with the lawyers.
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