A group of farmers from Bargarh district met the RDC (Northern) here on Thursday to put forth their demand for a CBI investigation into the alleged fraudulent registration of farmers for procurement of paddy for the current Rabi season.

In the absence of the RDC, the farmers met his secretary MC Bariha and narrated the irregularities committed during the registration of farmers for the current season. “The registration will do nothing but open the flood gate for mismanagement and corruption in paddy procurement,” said farmer leader Aswini Pradhan.

“We had appraised the Bargarh Collector during the district-level paddy procurement meeting, but the Collector didn’t do take any steps in this regard. This will simply help the corrupt Government officers and millers. At the same time, it would again create scope for distress sale of paddy at the rate of `700- 800 per quintal,” the farmers alleged.

The farmers urged the RDC to cancel the present registration of farmers’ list and make the procurement for the current season as per the old list. They demanded that the procurement be begin from May 1 so that the farmers would not be the victims of distress sale.

Due to advanced technology, the farmers are yielding nearly 40 bags of paddy (each bag 75 kg) per acre. “Hence we demand before the administration to allow farmers to sale 38 bags of paddy per acre in the market yards,” the farmers demanded. They also threatened that they would take to the street from May 1 if the above demands are not fulfilled by the administration.