Kharif paddy procurement has begun from November 25 in Baleswar district.
Earlier a decision in this regard had been taken in a meeting, presided over by district Collector Pramod Das.
MlAs Ananta Das, JP Dash, Aswani Patra, JP Panigrahi, Gobinda Das and ZP president Umilata Das were among others present. The elected representatives demanded justice for the farmers mentioning the difficulties faced by them while selling their produce on the ground of low quality and dust in paddy etc. Das besides directing the staff to be transparent while procuring paddy from the farmers, said stringent action would taken against those who commit irregularities in the procurement process.
In the first phase, while the target has been around 15.58 lakh quintals, the MSP has been `1,510 and `1,470 for the A grade and general grade paddy respectively. CSO Jayprakash Manipatra informed that six millers were barred from lifting the paddy as they didn’t return the rice of the paddy they received in last Kharif and Rabi.
The millers on the other hand said that some millers were given paddy more than their capacity. On the other had the millers alleged that they were being compelled to accept the paddy FA-2 despite low grade and presence of dust. They fumed the 2 per cent cess charged by the RMC and demanded pre-cleaning of the paddy.
PD DRDA Uday Narayan Das, sub collector Sadar Ramchanndra Palta and other officials were present.