Chandigarh, Mar 21 (IANS): Congress veteran and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Hooda on Thursday demanded the Haryana government start purchasing the mustard crop and clear the outstanding compensation of farmers.

Hooda said the arrival of the crop has started in the marketing yards, but the government is talking about starting the procurement on March 26.

"Whereas looking at the preparations, this also does not seem possible and the government wants to trap the farmers in the web of the portal once again. A total of 9.25 lakh farmers have registered 61.45 lakh acres on the Meri Fasal Mera Byora portal. But out of this, there is a mismatch in records of 10.40 lakh acres. Until this flaw is removed the government will not buy the crops of the farmers. This means the farmers will have to bear the brunt of the government's mistake. The Congress demands the government to start procurement of mustard without any delay and complete all preparations for the arrival of wheat in advance,” he said in a statement.

The former Chief Minister also reiterated the demand of giving the outstanding compensation to the farmers.

He said till now the government has neither compensated flood-affected farmers nor compensated for the damage caused by the hailstorm that occurred recently.

"Farmers have been sitting waiting for many years. Somehow, the BJP has released nominal compensation for the failure of 2022, which has large flaws. Farmers, whose entire crop was destroyed, are being given a compensation of Rs 6 each. Such complaints from farmers have come from many places, where farmers have complained about getting very paltry compensation in comparison to the damage," he added.