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Dear Reader,
This week, let me draw your attention to a less talked-about problem. Across much of north India, shortages of petrol and diesel, linked to the US-Israel war on Iran, are beginning to bite at an inopportune moment: the wheat harvest. Reporting from at least six districts in Uttar Pradesh, my colleague Vivek Mishra finds that combine harvester and reaper machines are lying idle for want of petrol and diesel, even as the narrow harvesting window closes. Those operators who manage to secure supplies are charging double. Many petrol pumps are shuttered; those still open are besieged by long queues, with some farmers waiting overnight to fill their cans. In Bahraich, a single functioning outlet now serves several villages. In nearby Shravasti, where petrol pumps have remained closed for weeks owing to supply constraints, one operator says he was forced to shut his outlet after his storage tank ran dry. He tells Down To Earth that most farmers now depend on machines for harvesting, increasing their reliance on petrol and diesel. “Farmers are suffering and we are unable to provide them with fuel. We cannot say when the situation will return to normal,” he says. The consequences may soon be visible in output. Farmers warn that delays in harvesting could compound losses already inflicted by recent storms and unseasonal rain.
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Thank you
Snigdha Das |
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