Farmers, industrialists unhappy over increase in diesel prices

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 23

An increase in diesel prices has spiked the input cost of farmers and industrialists, which has led to resentment among them.

Kuljit Singh, a farmer from Mahla village said, “The government and environmentalists stress on saving environment by not resorting to stubble burning. They advocate cutting the crop residue. A combine machine is required to cut stubble and it consumes about 50 liters of diesel on about 10 acres. The high cost of diesel makes it non-viable for farmers to cut the stubble.”

Navtej Singh, a vegetable grower from Jandiala, said, “Entire farming depends upon diesel. Most of the works related to farming are carried out with diesel-run tractors or machines. Any rise in fossil fuel prices means a rise in the input cost.”

Returns of produce in the market were not impressive, said industrialist Mukesh Nanda, who is also a farmer. Nanda said he cultivated the pea crop on six acres and incurred losses. After selling the produce, he earned only Rs 6,000 which was not even sufficient to pay wages to labourers who charge Rs three per kg to pluck the produce, he added.

As per the estimate, pea is cultivated on over 30,000 acres in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts.

Nanda, who runs a brick-kiln, said, “The input cost of brick has witnessed an increase with a constant rise in the cost of diesel. However, the cost of final product in the market remains the same.”

Raman Gupta, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, said, “After electricity, diesel is the major source of energy in any manufacturing industry. A constant rise in the diesel cost has increased the manufacturing cost, making the end product costly and uncompetitive in the highly competitive market.”