Bhubaneswar: With panchayat polls approaching, opposition Congress and BJP Sunday launched a scathing attack on the BJD government over fixation of ‘lower’ paddy procurement target and accused it of favouring millers while forcing farmers to go for distress sale.
The attack comes in the wake of the alleged ‘poor ‘procurement target of paddy fixed by the state government for the 2016-17 kharif marketing season.
The state government will procure 30 lakh metric ton of rice this season which is around 5.5 lakh MT less than the target of 2014-15 fiscal.
Coming down heavily on the government, Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati said, “Fixation of such low target indicates the government is working for the benefit of millers and not farmers.”
“Fixation of poor target forces most of the paddy farmers to go for distress sale. At a time when the government is claiming that its paddy production is increasing, fixation of poor procurement target proves that there is a ‘nexus’ between government and millers,” he alleged.
BJP state unit president Basant Kumar Panda also alleged that the state government is responsible for distress sale. “The food supplies department of the state government is working hand in gloves with millers.”
Panda said that nearly 74,000 farmers in his constituency are going for distress sale. “Imagine, what will be the figure of such farmers in the entire state? We will create awareness among farmers at Panchayat level in the coming days about their right and ask them not to go for distress sale,” he said.
Both Congress and BJP accused the government of not taking action against miller who exploit farmers. They also asked it to increase the target immediately to avoid distress sale.
Notably, the CAG in it recent report had also highlighted the undue favour the government had provided to millers in last five years. The CAG said that arbitrary deduction of up to 4 kg was made from the quantity offered for sale by farmers and assumed that an estimated quantify of 2.51 lakh ton of paddy worth `305 crore might have been unduly passed on to the millers during 2010-2015.
In the past, too, CAG had raised the distress sale issue in the absence of godown facilities, poor MSP and other issues.
While, the food supplies minister couldn’t be reached for his comments, BJD leaders rubbished the Congress and BJP allegation. The countered by claiming that the BJD government is taking all possible measures to avoid distress sale by farmers. They added the government has asked all the Collectors to take stern action against millers who try to exploit farmers.
Post News Network
