Dilip Kumar looked at the golden wheat crop swaying with the breeze and winced.

“Agriculture is not just a profession for us. It is our life,” the 45-year-old farmer in Bihar said.

“We have put in money and hard work to grow this wheat but cannot harvest because of the lockdown. The government had promised us we wouldn’t face any problem but made things more difficult for us.”

Dilip, whose home is in Datiana village under Bikram block in Patna district, is no exception. Thousands of farmers in the state have similar stories to tell.

The bumper wheat crop standing on miles and miles of farmland in Bihar should have gladdened the hearts of farmers but it has been a case of double whammy instead in this time of the Covid-19 lockdown.

The government had first given permits to the farmers to hire drivers from other states to operate combine harvesters, a machine designed to harvest a variety of grain crops.

When the farmers hired the drivers, spending a considerable amount of money, another order came: the drivers should be quarantined for 14 days, tested and sent back to their states. No question of employing them for any work.

According to available government figures, 690 permits had been issued to farmers in 11 districts — Patna, Rohtas, Kaimur, Nalanda, Bhojpur, Buxar, Aurangabad, Jehanabad, Arwal, Nawada and Gopalganj — to hire drivers who could operate harvester machines.

“Farmers like me spent around Rs 1 lakh to bring drivers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The drivers work in a team of two for each machine and come for a season. Bihar has very few people who can operate these machines,” Dilip said.

The drivers charge Rs 70,000 in advance for around four weeks, apart from a commission of Rs 70 per acre. The farmers have to provide them food and accommodation and arrange for their travel too.

“We hired combine harvester drivers from Ambala in Punjab and returned to the village in our own vehicle on April 5. The drivers took four days to service the machine that I had bought for Rs 23 lakh. But just when we were ready to harvest the wheat, local government officials stopped us,” Dilip said.

In Bihar, harvest of the rabi crop has traditionally begun after the Ramnavami celebrations and completed within four weeks. A fortnight has already passed since the festival.

The Union home ministry’s relaxed lockdown restrictions, announced on Wednesday, have brought no relief to farmers who had hired drivers from outside.

A letter issued by Bihar chief secretary Deepak Kumar reveals that at a video-conference with senior officials, the health department’s principal secretary, Sanjay Kumar, had objected to hiring combine harvester drivers from outside the state in the season of the pandemic.

Finally, it was agreed at the meeting that all drivers who had come from outside would be immediately quarantined; the district magistrates concerned would arrange for tests, and the drivers would be sent back as soon as their quarantine period got over.

It was also decided that no further passes would be issued for hiring such drivers.

Following the order, government officials stopped all work with combine harvesters at both district and block levels. Many of the drivers from outside, now stranded in villages across the state, are, however, yet to be quarantined.

Former central minister Ram Kripal Yadav, BJP MP from Patliputra, said “total destruction” awaited farmers across large swathes of Bihar. “The crop has ripened, but farmers are unable to get it cut without combine harvesters. They have spent a fortune in buying the machines and making advance payments to the drivers from outside. Agriculture labourers are also not available in large numbers to compensate for it.”

Ram Kripal, a Union minister in Narendra Modi’s cabinet till 2019, has written to chief minister Nitish Kumar and spoken to deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, agriculture minister Prem Kumar and the chief secretary and other senior officials seeking a solution.

“I have appealed to everybody but no solution has been provided so far. The season of thunderstorms is here. The government should ensure that the farmers do not lose their crop. Besides, this is also a matter related to food security,” Ram Kripal told The Telegraph.

Agriculture minister Prem Kumar sought to skirt the issue when asked about the plight of the farmers. Harvesting was going on across the state and modern machines like tractor-driven reapers, self-propelled reapers and reaper-cum-binders were being used by farmers, he said.

“Around 22.7 lakh hectares in the state were under wheat and 39 per cent has been harvested, with the Munger and Kosi divisions taking the lead. Harvesting is going on in other parts also with the help of labourers and various machines,” the BJP minister said.

“We are reviewing the situation daily with the district magistrates and things are fine. As far as the issue of combine harvester drivers is concerned, the state government is overseeing it.”