Food Minister Punnulal Mohale Monday attracted ridicule from Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik for his unsatisfactory answer to a question related to irregularity in paddy procurement, a mega annual exercise in Chhattisgarh. The Opposition also staged a walk out in the Assembly on the issue.
Congress member Mahant Ramsundar Das through his question had wanted to know from the minister about the approximate target for the procurement of paddy on support price during the just concluded kharif season i.e. from November 2012 to January 2013 and that while fixing the time and quantity of the procurement what steps were taken by the state government for the purchase of jute sacs and other materials.
In his written reply to the question of Mahant Ramsundar Das, Mohale told the house that no target for procurement of paddy is fixed by the state administration. However, for the purchase of jute sacs two purchase orders dated 19 July 2012 and 15 November 2012 were issued by the administration whereas on 16 July 2012 Rs 600 crore was released to Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Marketing Federation (Markfed) for purchase of jute sacs, he informed the house.
For the making the arrangements for procurement of paddy in the state a bid was held on 17 September 2012 on the basis of which a loan of `9,650 crore was sanctioned, the Minister told the House.
However, the minister failed to respond to the volley of supplementaries of opposition members regarding failure of procuring samities to weigh paddy of farmers despite their timely arrival, lack of storage space in samities , delay in payments and consuming paddy brought from neighbouring states by grain mafia, enraging Kaushik to intervene in the matter and reprimand the minister for his unsatisfactory answers. The Opposition also then walked out from the house accusing the Government of not coming forward with actual facts.