Madhya Pradesh: Official suspended after farmer’s video of crying in mandi to sell crop goes viral

The authorities in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district suspended an official after the video of a farmer crying to sell his crop in a government mandi (marketplace) went viral, officials said on Thursday (March 13, 2026). They added that a team has also been found to find the farmer. 

The incident took place on Wednesday (March 12, 2026) at the Nanakhedi Krishi Upaj Mandi in Guna when the purchasing was suspended allegedly due to a market inspector’s misbehaviour with the farmers and traders. 

As the farmers remained gathered at the site, one of them broke down while pleading for the operations to be resumed. The farmer has been identified by officials as Kamal Pal, a resident of Shrichakpur village. 

“Please buy my crop… my sister’s tika (a wedding ritual) is tomorrow,” he was heard saying in the video that went viral on social media. 

Mr. Pal says that he had been at the mandi since Tuesday (March 10, 2026) waiting to sell his coriander crop but the traders have shut the purchasing operations. 

“There are only 60 tractors [of farmers] left, it would have only taken half an hour. Two of my trollies are waiting,” he adds. 

As per local officials and reports, the traders suspended operations following arguments with Mr. Sharma who was allegedly in an inebriated state. 

The dispute allegedly began after farmers objected to Mr. Sharma recording low price of a farmer’s crop despite it having received a higher bid. 

Guna Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Shivani Pathak admitted that the inspector was intoxicated and had misbehaved with the farmers.

“He had done wrong marking of the price after which the traders had refused to buy the coriander crop in protest. After the mandi secretary alerted me about the situation, I had sent a team of officials to resume the operations,” she said, adding that the purchasing began after an hour of halt and that no farmer retired without selling. 

Guna Collector Kishore Kanyal told The Hindu that a team has also been found to find the farmer to address his concerns and ascertain if he was able to sell his crop. 

“Our team had visited his house but his family was not found there. We are in touch with his neighbours and trying to connect with him,” he said.