Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Surjya Narayan Patro’s reported advise to farmers, who have not got price for their paddy sold in 2016-17, has been stiffly opposed by the Odisha Chashi Suraksha Abhiyan, Ganjam branch.
“Recently, farmers met Minister Patro and urged him to pay paddy dues. Disappointingly, the Minister told them to go to court to get back dues. This is like adding salt to the wound,” lamented Rushikulay Rayat Mahasabha secretary Simanchal Nayak and Abhiyan leader K Dillip Kumar Mohapatra in a statement.
They wanted to know the justification behind the Minister’s statement when he is demanding before the Union Government to raise paddy MSP to Rs 2,930 per quintal and farmers struggling to get dues for paddy they had sold at Rs 1,470 per quintal one and half-a-year back.
According to them, some farmers of Kanachhai village under Ganjam district’s Polsara block had sold a total of 725 quintal of paddy to the Om Rice Mills but they not got the cost despite approaching the district Collector.
“Despite an inquiry conducted by the Chhatrapur Assistant Supply Officer revealed that paddy was procured and payment delayed, the concerned farmers have not got their dues for the last 18 months. Rather the farmers have been issued accused of forging. Supply department officers and the mill owner have misappropriated lakhs of rupees and are frightening farmers,” alleged Abhiyan convenor and BJP leader Rabi Rath.
He demanded that a high-level inquiry been conducted into the matter at the earliest.