JEYPORE: A large number of irregularities in farmers registration for paddy procurement are coming to fore in Koraput district following an investigation by State Civil Supply Corporation. While 30 ghost farmers were found in the LAMPS list last week, 199 more farmers have now been found to have illegally registered their names twice for selling both paddy seeds and paddy. Names of these farmers have been blocked in the Paddy Procurement Automation System (P-PAS) by the Corporation.
As per reports, the Seeds Corporation office in Jeypore had asked seed growers of the district for supplying seeds of different paddy varieties for the ensuing Kharif crop season. As many as 314 seed growers registered their names with Odisha State Seeds Corporation Limited to provide seeds after harvesting of the crop. However, it was found that many of the farmers also registered their names in local LAMPS to sell their paddy stock although they had registered for supplying seeds. Some seed growers also managed to get tokens for selling paddy in the mandis.
As per procurement norms, a farmer can either sell paddy or seeds to Government agencies. Following allegations in this regard by a group of farmers, District Civil Supply Officer verified the names in both Odisha State Seeds Corporation Limited and P-PAS and found 199 farmers who registered for both selling paddy seeds and paddy.
Their names were immediately blocked in the P-PAS to prevent tokens being generated for procurement.
“It is illegal to allow these farmers to participate in paddy procurement as this would delay procurement of paddy from genuine farmers. In fact, these farmers buy paddy below minimum support price from farmers of other villages and after getting tokens, they sell the stock in mandis whereas their own crops are already sold to the Seed Corporation”, said District Civil Supply Officer, Tularam Nayak.