RAJBIRAJ, DECEMBER 17
Farmers in Saptari have been left distraught for want of chemical fertiliser even when the wheat cultivation season is giving way.
Unable to get the commodity much needed to boost their cultivation even after frequenting the district headquarters day in and day out, desperate farmers have started to agitate.
Just this Wednesday, irate farmers burnt tyres on the main road in Rajbiraj and staged a sit-in on the premises of the district administration office. They had later agreed to end their protest and return home after chief district officer Janardan Gautam pledged that he would make sure that every farmer could get 25-kg of fertiliser.
Those farmers gained the district administration office again today, seeking fertiliser.
"We were forced to come to the administration as we couldn't get the fertiliser despite the Chief District Officer's promise," said farmer Hareram Mehata of Chhinamasta Rural Municipality-5, Lokharam.
Another farmer Rubi Mandal of Ward No 4 of Agnisair Krishnasabaran Rural Municipality said they had come to the administration to complain about the police high-handedness.
He added that they were beaten up by police when they had gone to the Agriculture Inputs Company to get fertiliser.
"The season of wheat cultivation is going to expire. So far we haven't got fertiliser, we don't know how we will cultivate," she said.
She accuded fertiliser dealers of black marketing the commodity.
"The dealers in our locality receive the fertiliser showing us but sell it to others for huge commission, leaving us high and dry, which is so sad," she said.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 18, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
