JAGATSINGHPUR: The district administration has directed secretaries of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) to store paddy, not yet procured from farmers, at local clubs or buildings of primary schools. The directive came after Water Resources Minister Raghunandan Das, in a meeting of the district level paddy procurement committee, expressed concern over the plight of farmers, who have not yet been able to sell their produce owing to cancellation of tokens and delay in the lifting of paddy by millers.
Das said scores of farmers from Anantapur in Balikuda block have alleged that their paddy has not been procured by the PACS and they are left with no option but to dump their stock in the open.
The fact that the majority of PACS do not have storage facilities has only added to their woes. Collector Sangram Keshari Mohapatra said steps are being initiated to validate the tokens of farmers, whose stock are yet to be procured for at least one month. In case of non-availability of godowns, the farmers can stock their produce in local clubs or primary schools which are lying vacant after their merger with nodal schools, he said.
District Civil Supplies Officer Dillip Kumar Patra said as many as 30,582 farmers have registered their names in 105 cooperative societies of the district and 31 millers pressed into service to procure paddy from them.