Keonjhar: With the government’s paddy procurement going on at a tardy pace in this district, traders are cashing in on the desperateness of farmers, ware are keen to sell their produce immediately after harvest in order to meet their urgent expenses.
According to a report, the government has set a target to procure 7.73 lakh quintals of paddy in the current kharif season in the district while only 1,672 quintals have been purchased from the farmers till date. Paddy procurement at various centres has not been upto the mark and farmers have expressed their unhappiness over this.
Some traders are taking advantage of the situation and have started buying paddy from farmers at prices lower than the government-fixed MSP. The traders are raking in the moolah by supplying the paddy out of the district, the report said.
Locals have demanded raids at the places where such illegalities have been taking place. Distress sale of paddy and its unauthorised supply has come to the fore after 253 quintals of paddy were seized near Ramchandrapur RMC gate recently, as per information available from the civil supplies department.
Truckloads of paddy are being supplied out of the district via Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Deogarh, Angul and Dhenkanal districts. Traders are also supplying paddy to some rice millers in Keonjhar, it was learnt.
Some traders have resorted to fraudulent ways of selling paddy to government procurement centres. They stock the paddy at homes and manage to fraudulently register their names for procurement by identifying themselves as farmers.
Some farmers demanded that the department pay special attention to such loopholes in the government procurement mechanism.
In the district, 34,726 farmers done online registration for procurement by December 19 while the registration process is still on, the department officials said.
There are 12 authorised millers in the district while the department has opened 85 procurement centres for 44 cooperative societies.
Some farmers claimed that they are not paid the right price of their paddy as FAQ standard is not checked.
A farmers’ leader said as there is delay in getting price of the paddy through mandis, farmers sell their produce to traders to get payments instantly.
The department says there are hitches in paddy procurement due to agitation by staffers of LAMPS, but the procurement target will be met in time.
Civil supplies officer Abhiram Pradhan said paddy procurement will go on till April and the target will be met. “Squads have been formed to check distress sale of paddy and payments will be paid to farmers online, Pradhan added. PNN
