Sonepur: A satellite survey has exposed ‘fake’ cultivation of paddy on 9,018 plots by some unscrupulous farmers and land owners. The survey has unearthed that in reality paddy was not cultivated during the 2023-24 Rabi season in various areas of Subarnapur district, sources informed Sunday. Sources pointed out that hundreds of farmers including landowners got their names registered with the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) and women’s self-help groups (SHGs). They had done so to get government benefits provided for the cultivation of paddy.
However, instead of paddy cultivation, they were procuring it from other states and selling it at rates fixed by the government and reaping rich benefits, sources alleged. In the process, the original paddy farmers are losing out on government benefits, they added. The survey has exposed that the plots mentioned as farmlands during registration do not exist at all. They are abandoned grasslands, water bodies and barren non-cultivable land. The satellite survey was conducted by the Revenue, Agriculture, and Cooperative departments after large-scale allegations of fake registrations surfaced.
After obtaining the satellite survey report, officials of the district administration then initiated a physical examination of the 10,208 doubtful plots. And once it was done, it emerged that there had been rampant ‘fake’ registration of plots as paddy cultivation lands. Reports said that paddy cultivation was carried out on 34,000 hectares of irrigated land in Subarnapur district during the 2023-24 Rabi season. During registration, the farmers mentioned that paddy cultivation had been carried out on 12,959 plots in Subarnapur district. A total of 35,580 farmers registered their names with the 60 PACS and 37 women SHGs groups to sell their harvested paddy crops. Immediately after registration, a field survey was done by a team comprising a revenue inspector, village-level agriculture worker, secretaries of the various PACS and women SHGs.
Initially, 191 fake registrations by farmers came to light and their names were struck off the list. However, it was just the tip of the iceberg. Only when the government undertook a satellite survey the massive fraud was unearthed. It was found that paddy cultivation had not been done on approximately 10,208 plots under six tehsils. Then a physical survey of the doubtful plots was done and it was found that over 9,018 of them did not exist at all. The pictures of these plots were then uploaded to the websites of various departments. However, by then many of the ‘fake’ farmers had already benefitted. The Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Department later said that no token will be issued to farmers or land owners without a physical survey of the plots after allegations of fake registrations surfaced. Meanwhile, the district-level paddy procurement has announced that it will begin procurement from May 22. With the date fast approaching many farmers’ outfits in Subarnapur district have urged officials to survey the suspected plots.
