Bargarh: Though it has been 13 days since mandis were opened in this district and paddy worth over `84 crore collected from farmers, not a rupee has been credited to latter’s bank accounts, a report said.
Though the government earlier declared to transfer the dues to the accounts of farmers through direct fund transfer system, it is yet to be done, farmers said.
Many farmers are in a miserable state as they don’t have balance in their bank accounts.
“Often we get insulted by the money lenders from whom we borrowed money to raise the crops. Besides, we are yet to clear the payment of workers who were engaged in farming,” rued some farmers.
Further, the lack of funds has prevented them from getting prepared for the next farming season and they are finding it difficult to meet their daily needs, a few others said.
PS Giri and D Ramkrishna, two farmers of Atabira block, said they have sold more than 800 packets of paddy but are yet to get a rupee in their accounts. Though they took up the issue with the secretary of the primary agricultural cooperative society (PACS), he buys time, saying the delay was caused by software problems, Giri and Ramkrishna said.
Laxman Pradhan, president of the Bargarh unit of a state level farmers’ outfit, said stalemate in procurement and payment has become a routine affair. The government’s tall claim of streamlining the payment and procurement process is all hollow, he alleged.
Many farmers run to banks expecting credit of their dues in their accounts but in vain. Resentment brewed among farmers over the delay in release of payment, it was learnt.
When contacted over the issue, district civil supplies officer Vibekananda Korkara said the government has released `39 crore Tuesday. The payment would soon be credited to the accounts of farmers. Steps are being taken to release the balanace payment of farmers, he added.
The government has so far procured over 5 lakh quintals of paddy from farmers through 46 PACS of the district. Procurement centres are yet to be opened in a few blocks of Padmapur and Bargarh sub-divisons of the district, a report said.
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