BARGARH: Amid discontentment among farmers over alleged irregularities in token distribution, the rabi paddy procurement commenced in all the blocks of Bargarh district on Wednesday.
Bargarh collector Aditya Goyal said paddy procurement commenced across 189 mandis in 12 blocks of the district simultaneously. The district-level inaugural programme was held at three mandis. Adequate measures have been put in place in view of the scorching summer as well as to ensure that farmers sell their paddy without any exploitation.
“We are also aware of the loss incurred by farmers due to nor’westers. A report has already been sent to the Revenue department after loss estimation. If further crop damage claims come up, we will address it,” he added.
On the other hand, farmers of several blocks raised concerns over discrepancies in distribution of tokens. Many reported that despite proper registration and document submission, the tokens received were significantly lower than expected. They blamed inaccurate satellite surveys for the discrepancies, which left farmers affected by crop losses due to pest attacks and nor’westers in a financial distress.
Several farmers under the banner of Jai Kisan Andolan submitted a complaint to the Bargarh collector alleging irregularities in token distribution. Citing examples from Bhatli and Sohela, the farmers alleged that token quantities were much lower than the cultivated area in the two blocks.
Additional district magistrate (ADM) Madhuchhanda Sahu received the complaint and assured the farmers of looking into the concerns. Sahu acknowledged that the issue arose from satellite survey errors. If affected farmers lodge complaints with the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS), their lands would be re-verified by the revenue inspector. The corrected data would be forwarded to higher authorities, the ADM added.
On Tuesday, the Sanjukta Krushak Sangathan had also raised the token distribution issue alleging that out of 92,500 registered farmers, 90,900 received tokens after satellite verification. Besides, some tokens had delayed sale dates. Similarly, borewell-irrigated farmers received fewer tokens despite larger cultivated areas, and about 50 farmers reported mismatches between their cultivated land and token allotment.