DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said Rs 2,336 crore has been credited directly into the accounts of farmers during the current crop procurement season. He also said the crop procurement was going on smoothly. Before the start of the crop procurement from April 1, Khattar had said the government will release payment to farmers for their procured produce within two days while giving the banks another 24-hour cushion to credit the amount directly into the peasants' verified accounts. Khattar had said an interest of 9 per cent would be paid to farmers if there is a delay in making payment to them. On Tuesday, he said that so far, there is only one farmer whose payment got delayed by 10 days, three farmers whose payment got delayed by 9 days while there are many farmers in whose case the payment has been delayed by a day. In all, as many as 10,769 farmers have been paid interest of Rs 7.80 lakh for delay in payment, said Khattar, who was making a televised address to the people of the state on the prevailing COVID-19 situation. He asserted that the government was committed to doubling farmers' income. He made an indirect reference to the farmers who are protesting against the Centre's new farm laws and said some people are trying to mislead the farmers  over certain issues. However, as systems which are being put in place for farmers' welfare, the peasants will realise what is in their interest and what is not and accordingly decide on what they have to accept. He asserted that there is no intention neither of the Centre nor state government to make farmers agree to anything under pressure. Further, touching upon the crop procurement, Khattar said 396 mandis as well as 77 procurement centres have been set up. About 60 lakh tonne wheat has arrived in the mandis. Out of this, 53 lakh tonne has been procured and 25 lakh tonne has been lifted, he added. The chief minister said that under the 'Mera Pani Meri Virasat' scheme, launched for the purpose of water conservation last year, the state government had called upon the farmers to sow other alternative crops in place of paddy, and the farmers have adopted crop diversification on 96,000 acres of land. He informed that under this scheme, an incentive of Rs 7,000 is being given per acre to the farmers. He said this time also, the government would urge farmers to sow crops other than paddy on about 2 lakh acres of land so that water can be saved. The chief minister said that earlier, the land owner used to get compensation or money for the procured crop, but the current state government has made a provision that even the cultivator who had taken the land on rent for cultivation would also get the money. He also said the state government is dedicated to working towards increasing the income of those farmers who have small agricultural land. (editor@dailyworld.in)