The BJP Krushak Morcha on Tuesday slammed the State Government on the paddy procurement issue and said that it is blaming the Centre to hide its own failure.
Because of the token and target system of the State Government, there is deep resentment among the farmers, but the State Government is putting the blame on the Food Corporation of India (FCI), said Morcha State president Pradip Purohit. He alleged that being unable to provide the minimum support price (MSP) to the farmers, the BJD Government is taking an escapist route. He said that based on a decentralised procurement agreement among the Union Government, the State Governments and the FCI, the Odisha Government was supposed to procure paddy directly or through an authorised agency. But because of the defective policy of the State Government, farmers are suffering and the fund given by the Union Government for mandi management has largely been misutilised Purohit said the FCI has already accepted the stocked rice and remaining 7 lakh MT of rice would be procured in due course of time. During the year 2020-21, up to July 17, the FCI procured 13.07 lakh MT non-basmati rice. The Morcha demanded that as there is no space in market yards to stock paddy, the State Government should immediately establish godowns in all mandis; the procurement through token should be transparent; and the Government should notify the mill-wise and storage point-wise status and implement recommendations of the Central team on paddy procurement.