Bhubaneswar: Following outrage from farmers, the state government Monday decided to continue paddy procurement until the entire paddy stocks with farmers are procured.
In a letter to 19 District Collectors, food supplies and consumer welfare secretary VV Yadav said the government is committed to procuring surplus paddy from farmers who are willing to sell paddy to the government as per the norms. Earlier, the government had directed to complete paddy procurement in same districts from the midnight of February 28 as the state had already procured more than its targeted quantity of paddy.
The 19 districts are Angul, Bhadrak, Balasore, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Gajapati, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Khurda, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Puri, Rayagada and Sundargarh.
The government reviewed its decision following discontentment among farmers from across the state due to closure of paddy procurement. The secretary warned that stern action would be taken if any irregularity is found in paddy procurement process.
“All Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) must be directed that they must issue tokens to farmers. Assistant registrars of cooperative society (ARCS) and other field functionaries must regularly visit the mandis and strict action must be taken against the PACS if any irregularities are detected,” Yadav wrote to Collectors of 19 districts. He warned to confiscate paddy coming to mandis without tokens. He asked the administration to ensure that the millers lift paddy only from the mandis. If any miller is found purchasing paddy directly from farmers, the government would remove him from paddy procurement process.
A district squad must visit the mandis and facilitate farmers in selling paddy and check irregularities being committed by millers or PACS, the secretary ordered. The government further instructed authorised officers to visit the mandis and rice mills regularly and share their observations through Whatsapp by every evening.
“Since payment to the farmers is initiated once the purchase data is uploaded by the PACS. So, again, it is reiterated that if a PACS fails to upload data by evening, the CSO should immediately send the squad to the PACS to verify the data,” read the letter. The Collectors were asked to ensure that the farmers do not resort to distress sale of paddy.