BHUBANESWAR: The State government’s directive to Odisha State Seeds Corporation (OSSC) to vacate its establishments in Sambalpur district for Samaleswari temple beautification project has put the corporation and the seed growing farmers in a fix.
Collector Shubham Saxena has asked the State-owned corporation to relocate the machinery of its seed processing plant from the existing site to a new location at Nuakhurigaon near Sason by October 15.
All the establishments of the OSSC are located on a 2.56 acre land purchased from the government in 1997 near the temple. Apart from a double-storey officer building, there are two godowns of 1,500 tonne capacity each with having a current stock of 200 tonne of certified paddy seeds and nearly 20 staff quarters.
Expressing concern over the hurried decision of the government, sources in OSSC said dismantling the machinery of the plant and setting up the same is a time-consuming process.
As seeds processing for the current kharif season will start from November, it is well-nigh impossible to relocate the plant within a month’s time. It will lead to serious dislocation for seed processing and farmers, who have grown crops on 600 hectare under seed production programme, will be forced to sell their produce as non-seed.
The corporation has planned to procure 25,000 quintal kharif seeds from the registered farmers. As seed processing seems impossible, the corporation would not be able to supply quality seeds to farmers in time, the sources said.
“The seed stock of OSSC presently available in the godown should be shifted to the godown at Nuakhurigaon by October 10. The chief district agriculture officer, Sambalpur is directed to hand over the permissive possession to the OSSC to keep their stock till alternate arrangement is made,” the order said.
The Secretary of Sambalpur Development Authority and the seed processing and marketing manager of the corporation have been asked to find out a suitable location for office space and submit a proposal for approval.
“We are not opposing to handing over the OSSC land to temple project. The same could have been done after relocation of the plant and machinery, and creation of scientific storage space for keeping the seeds,” said farmer leader Ashok Pradhan. The Collector could not be contacted for his comment on the issue.