BHAWANIPATNA: Kharif paddy procurement which is in its last leg has already crossed last year’s procurement target in Kalahandi district.
As against the state government’s target to procure 64.06 lakh quintal paddy, the district administration completed purchase of 60.07 lakh quintal by Monday. Last year, the paddy procurement figure was 51.2 lakh quintal. By now, out of 223 paddy purchasing centres, 200 points have closed as procurement is complete. This has been achieved despite a delay in the starting of the mandis.
Initially, the millers had hesitated to execute custom milling agreement demanding the government withdraw order to recover custody and maintenance charges of godowns. There was also a demand to increase custom milling charges from Rs 20 to Rs 120 per quintal as paid in neighbouring Chhattisgarh. Enhancement of transportation charges was also another demand.
Later, in the middle of procurement season, the millers again stopped work over blacklisting of 60 millers over the dispute with FCI for providing less numbers of bags during delivery of rice. Similarly, there were allegations of farmers over ‘katni-chhatni’ and problems of use of grain analyser.
For the current kharif procurement season, 84 millers were tagged to 223 paddy purchasing centres while 1,14,758 farmers registered themselves online for sale of their harvest in the district.
Chief district civil supplies officer Pabitra Sahu said, despite the initial hiccups, kharif paddy procurement in the district is way above satisfactory and procurement will be completed during the current week itself.
Posing as farmer, Bhadrak collector visits mandi, uncovers practice of paddy deduction
Bhadrak: In an undercover operation, Bhadrak collector Dilip Routrai disguised himself as a farmer and visited a procurement centre in Dhamnagar block to probe the allegations of ‘katni-chhatni’ - deduction of paddy after assessment. Dressed casually in shorts, T-shirt and a face mask, Routrai walked into Kata Sahi mandi as an ordinary farmer after parking his vehicle at a distance on Saturday.
Moving around the centre, he closely observed the procurement process and interacted with farmers to understand their grievances regarding sale of paddy. To verify the claims of ‘katni-chhatni’, the collector attempted to sell paddy using another farmer’s token. The cooperative official in charge of the mandi informed him that approximately eight kg of paddy would be deducted as wastage.
After confirming the allegations, Routrai immediately issued a show-cause notice to the officials concerned. The collector said repeated allegations of ‘katni-chhatni’ from farmers forced him to conduct the undercover operation and find out the truth. “I had gone to Kata Sahi mandi as a farmer to sell paddy at 4 pm on Saturday.
I remained there for three hours,” he said. Routrai further informed that he has asked the secretary of Kata Sahi primary agriculture credit society (PACS) to explain why action should not be taken against him as the allegations of paddy deduction have been found to be true. He said the first phase paddy procurement target in the district has been achieved.
The second phase procurement is underway in Bhadrak. The collector’s undercover inspection came to light after videos of the incident were circulated on social media. It has been widely appreciated by farmers with many hoping for stricter actions to curb such malpractice.