Mandi for procurement of paddy is not starting in time; necessary equipments and infrastructure are not available in procurement centres; millers are interfering in procurement; SHGs and Pani Panchayats are not involved in procurement, and several such issues pertaining to procurement of paddy were raised by farmers of Nuapada district while demonstrating in front of the Collector's office here on Monday.
Hundreds of farmers and BJP members joined the demonstration held by the BJP Krushak Morcha and expressed their grievances against the callous attitude of BJD Government. "The Government has failed to protect the interest of farmers. The Government’s failure in properly implementing the food and procurement policy for the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2016-17 has resulted in great losses to the farmers," said Krushak Morcha district president Sanjay Tiwari.
A memorandum submitted to the Collector pointed out that the KMS policy as well as operational guidelines for purchasing paddy clearly state that the RMC (Regional Marketing Committee) has the responsibility to see whether equipments and infrastructures required at the paddy purchase centres operated by different procurement agencies like PACS, WSHG, PP and OSCSC are available or not. The RMC shall provide equipments like weighing scale (both electronic and manual), moisture meter, sample divider, analysis kit, polythene bag, tarpaulin / polythene sheet, etc., to the agencies and shall ensure that they are in working condition. It shall also make provision for sufficient godown facility, road for transportation, waiting space, drinking water and toilet facility for farmers. But none of the purchasing centres in the district take this seriously which results in a lot of difficulties for the farmers and leads to distress sale of their produce.
BJP district president Sibaprashad Mund, State working committee member Jadumani Panigrahi, Khamsingh Majhi and many other leaders spoke on the occasion.