BHUBANESWAR: The BJD on Tuesday threatened to launch a statewide protest over the alleged large-scale mismanagement in paddy procurement for the kharif marketing season 2025-26.
Addressing a media conference here, Opposition chief whip Pramila Mallik, BJD vice-president Sanjay Das Burma and senior general secretary Bhrugu Baxipatra said mandis have been opened and paddy procurement should have started in many districts.
“However, the government has so far failed to introduce a transparent system for paddy purchase in many districts owing to which farmers are out on the streets,” they alleged.
Stating that there is widespread confusion over how much paddy will be procured per token, the BJD leaders alleged contradictory statements by different ministers had added to the mismanagement. They blamed the government for lack of coordination, alleging that the quantity of paddy to be procured from farmers was being deliberately reduced by several means like strict adherence to fair average quality (FAQ) and use of grain analysers.
“Farmers are now disillusioned because of these irregularities,” they said.
Claiming that there was also no transparency in distribution of tokens to farmers, the BJD leaders said till December 19 last year, the government had procured 4.62 lakh tonne of paddy from 98,670 farmers. “But now, purchase has dropped to 2.66 lakh tonne from 58,206 farmers,” they pointed out.
“Though the rule mandates payment to farmers within 24 hours of procurement, in reality, it is being delayed. Besides, farmers are now being forced to bear not only the cost of transporting paddy from villages to mandis but also for lifting the stock from mandis to the millers’ warehouses,” they added.