Rail roko at Shambhu: Week on, movement of food grains hit, ethanol industry in a quandary
The ongoing ‘rail roko’ protest by the farm bodies at Shambhu in the Patiala district of Punjab has not only impacted the food grain and fertiliser movement but has also hit the ethanol manufacturing units in the state.
With the rabi harvest at its peak, food and civil supplies department authorities have expressed concerns that they were running out of storage space for freshly harvested wheat as the process of transportation of grains, already stored in godowns to consumer states, has slowed down.
“We used to send 30-32 rakes of food grains every day, which has now come down to 15 to 22 rakes,” said an officer of the food department, pleading anonymity. Each rake carries 2,500 tonnes of food grain and the movement of already stored grains is essential to create space for fresh procurement.
Only 30L tonnes of storage available
At present, the state has six lakh tonnes of storage space in the silos and 167 lakh tonnes in the covered godowns. As per an estimation of the state food and civil supplies department, only 30 lakh tonnes of empty storage space is available. In the rabi season, 132 lakh tonnes of wheat is expected to be procured by the state agencies and the Food Corporation of India.
So far, 34 lakh tonnes of wheat has arrived in the mandis of the state, which after procurement will be transported to storage points. The state food department is in the process of re-hiring at least 40-45 lakh tonnes of capacity open plinths to facilitate storage.
“Despite the challenge, we are making best efforts to transport food grains from Punjab to other states via the alternative rail routes,” said Puneet Goyal, director food and civil supplies. With Shambhu blocked, the trains under Ambala and Ferozepur railway divisions are being diverted via the Ambala-Chandigarh-Sanehwal route and on the Ludhiana-Dhuri-Jakhal route further for Delhi. The trains are not only taking longer time to complete their journey but with increased traffic many are running late or are delayed.
What farmers want
The protest began on Wednesday i.e. April 17, under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) at Shambhu, for the release of three farmers arrested by the Haryana police. Three farmers, including Navdeep Jalbera, Gurkirat Shahpur and Anish Khatkar, were arrested during the ongoing farmers’ stir.
“We do not want to block the rail traffic but were forced to do so because three of our farmers are lodged in jail for no fault,” said Sarwan Singh Pandher, who heads Kisan Mazdoor Morcha. The farmers have been staying put at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 when their “Delhi Chalo” march was stopped by the security forces.
Pandher, however, clarified that the focus of their protest was on stopping the passenger trains and not goods trains.
The stir has also impacted the transportation of rice. According to Tarsem Saini, an office bearer of the state’s rice millers association, the movement of rice has also slowed. “Due to the slow movement of food grains, particularly rice, the shelling mills have been forced to slow down operations,” he added.
Ethanol industry’s worries mount
Punjab received at least two to four rakes of maize from Bihar and other states every day, and since the protests began, the supplies have been curtailed to only a rake every second day. Maize serves as raw material for 14 ethanol manufacturing plants, which have a production capacity of 30 lakh litres every day. Ethanol is mixed with petrol which further reduces the import of crude. Nearly 30kg of maize goes into producing four litres of ethanol.
“We are facing a raw material crunch due to which the manufacturing has slowed down, and we are depending on what we have in our storage,” said Rana Inder Singh, who has stakes in ethanol manufacturing. Ranas have two ethanol plants – Buttar Sevian in Amritsar and another in Tarn Taran district.
The ethanol producers are worried that in case, the supply continues to be hampered they might have to shut down the units.
Fertiliser supply could be hit
The state’s agriculture department has also raised a red flag that in case the protest continues for a few more weeks, the supply of fertilisers, especially urea and di-ammonia phosphate (DAP) essential for paddy cultivation will also be impacted.
“In case the protest continues for a few more weeks, the supply of fertilisers for paddy will suffer,” said Jaswant Singh, director agriculture.
“As of now, there is no shortage,” said an officer in the state’s agricultural marketing federation, Markfed.
Markfed supplies fertiliser to 3,521 agricultural cooperative societies in the state which further gives it to the farmers. According to the department, 3 lakh tonnes of urea is available with the state, and every month, the state gets an allocation of 3 to 3.5 lakh tonnes. According to Markfed officials, in case rail routes are not blocked, the supplies would be adequate.
“Paddy crop requires urea in the first week of July, and it’s used again after 45 days. State total requirement of urea in kharif season (for paddy) is 15 lakh tonnes and 1.75 lakh tonnes of DAP,” he said.
