BARGARH: Irked over delay in procurement of paddy, farmers of Kumbhari village under Barpali block locked the chief civil supplies officer (CSO) of Bargarh inside his office for an hour and staged protest on Tuesday.
The agitating farmers claimed that around 4,000 bags of paddy are lying unsold at the local market yard for the last 10 days. Due to the delay in procurement, the quality of their paddy is on the verge of deterioration as it is now prone to moisture due to unseasonal rain.
“We had tried to maintain the quality of paddy as per FAQ standard to get appropriate price for our produce and avoid deduction. However, the paddy quality is now at risk due to the delay,” said a farmer.
The agitators further claimed many farmers are facing a deduction of around 2-3 kg per quintal of paddy as officials at the mandis are not accepting it to be of FAQ quality.
They also alleged that despite assurance from the state government, middlemen are active at mandis and trying to influence the procurement process.
Farmer leader and member of Samyukta Krushak Sangathan Ramesh Mohapatra said during his recent visit to Sohela, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi claimed that paddy procurement is running smoothly without the involvement of middlemen.
However, the ground reality at Kumbhari is completely different. The middlemen are influencing the procurement process and farmers are being denied the right price for their produce using the grain analyser as an excuse.
“As the problem persisted for a long time, farmers had come for a peaceful discussion on these issues. But as the officers could not give a satisfactory response, we decided to lock the office of chief CSO Rajkishore Panigrahi in protest,” he said.
Mohapatra urged the administration to immediately procure paddy from farmers without any deduction on the pretext of quality.
Assistant CSO Dibyasingh Badmali said, “We were informed about the procurement problem today. We have assured the farmers that the unsold paddy will be lifted in two to three days. Subsequently, the procurement will continue as usual and around 1,000-1,200 quintal of paddy will be lifted daily.”
On the allegations of involvement of middlemen in the procurement process, Badmali said the administration is yet to receive any such complaint. However, swift action will be taken if any middlemen is found influencing the procurement process.
Chief CSO Panigrahi said there was some misunderstanding during the discussions due to which the farmers turned hostile and locked the office. “The procurement issue has come to our notice and we will take necessary steps in this regard,” he added.