Bargarh: The authorities raided Lath Industry’s rice mill near Patharla on the outskirts of the town here Monday. Sub-Collector Debendra Kumar Nanda conducted the raids on the mill at the behest of District Collector Indramani Tripathy.
Millers are reported to have procured huge quantities of paddy directly from the farmers cheaper, instead of buying them at minimum support price (MSP) from the mandis. On a complaint that Lath Industry was buying rice directly from the farmers, the Collector ordered the raids on this mill. Details of the raid were not available immediately as raids were underway at the time of reporting.
Notably, paddy procurement should have started May 8and it was delayed on the pretext of Fani. Reportedly, there is zero procurement of paddy from the mandis of Bargarh district, for past few days.
It was alleged paddy could not be procured in the district although huge stocks of paddy are lying at the rice mills, thanks to the delay in procurement. Orissa POST has been persistently covering the procurement problems of farmers in Odisha.
Officials of supply department, regulated marketing committee and police department participated in the raids.
