Balangir farmer fails to sell his produce
BALANGIR: A farmer of Kudasinga village in the district failed to get the benefits of the Government procurement system as he could not make it to online registration.
Sources said the farmer, Jogeswar Sahu, had manually applied at Kudasinga Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society (PACS) for registration of his name to participate in the paddy procurement process during the kharif season.
Later, when his family members inquired about the status, the PACs officials informed them that his name can’t be enrolled as the 25.86 acres of his land have already been registered in the name of Rakesh Kumar Sahu, Jogeswar’s nephew, by allegedly bypassing the rights of other claimants of the land. Jogeswar alleged that due to the nexus between the officials of PACS and Rakesh, he incurred heavy losses this season as he was forced to resort to distress sale of paddy.
Though the issue was brought to the notice of the secretary of the PACS, it is yet to be resolved.
“This year, I had cultivated paddy over seven acres of land with good harvest. But I failed to sell the produce in Government procurement centre at the MSP rate of H1470. I was forced to sell the paddy in the open market H400 below the MSP rate,” he said. This year, the State Government has fixed target of 12 quintals paddy per acre for a farmer to sell at the PACS. Secretary of Kudasinga PACS Amrut Chouhan said steps are being taken to resolve the issue by Sunday.