Bhubaneswar: Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare and Cooperation Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain said a record 56.27 lakh metric tonne paddy was procured from 10, 20,779 farmers.
Swain said the paddy procurement will be carried out in the State for another 35 days. The Minister said till date 21% more paddy was procured as compared to last year.
The Cooperation Minister said that action was taken against those involved in irregularities.
He said 83 employees of the Cooperation department were placed under suspension during the Kharif procurement season this year. The Minister said 27 data entry operators were dismissed for entering erroneous data.
The Minister said the DRCS Keonjhar, ARCS Keonjhar and Administrator of Sahanpada Society were also placed under suspension for irregularities. The action was taken against five Custom Millers for irregularities, he added.
The BJP MLA from Sambalpur Jayanarayan Mishra said the government has failed to deliver its responsibility and opined that district-level procurement committees should be made activated. The government should abolish the token system, he added.
He alleged that the Odisha government has failed to deliver its responsibility on the matter.
Congress MLA from Jeypore Tara Prasad Bahinipati said both the State and the Central governments are responsible for paddy not being lifted from the mandi.
