JEYPORE: Congress activists staged a road blockade here in protest against delay in procurement of paddy in various mandis on Thursday.They blocked the road near Jeypore Traffic Chowk for over five hours and raised slogans against the State Government. Led by Jeypore MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati, they alleged that farmers of Koraput district have been struggling to sell their produce for the last one month due to apathetic attitude of district administration. Thousands of bags of paddy, which were brought to the mandis by farmers for procurement, are lying unsold.
Bahinipati said officials concerned in the mandis are illegally demanding five to 10 kg extra paddy per quintal from farmers for procurement. Demanding that such unfair practices should be checked, he threatened that the Congress party would intensify its stir in days to come.Vehicular traffic on Raipur-Visakhaptanam NH was disrupted and hundreds of vehicles were detained in Koraput, Jeypore and Borrigumma. Plying of Government and private buses were also hit.
The farmers of Kumui, Kamta and BSinghur area under Borrigumma observed bandh on the day demanding lifting of paddy from mandis by millers.Official sources, however, said there was no paddy stock in mandis of Koraput district and the district administration has already procured around 16,000 quintals from mandis in Jeypore and Koraput sub-divisions.
Collector KS Chakravarti reviewed the paddy procurement process at Jeypore DCS office here on Wednesday and directed the officials to speed up the procurement process under the existing government norms.
District Civil Supply Officer Tura Ram Nayak informed that procurement is going on smoothly in the mandis and advised the farmers not to panic.Sources said the farmers in some places are refusing to negotiate with the PACS over FAQ norms as a result of which, stocks are not being lifted.Apparently, the paddy being brought to mandis have impurities and do not completely qualify for minimum support price under the FAQ norms.