New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: A delegation of BJP MPs led by Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today met Union Minister Piyush Goyal and submitted a memorandum seeking his ‘intervention in directing the Odisha government to expeditiously complete procurement of unsold paddy for the welfare of farmers in the state’.
In the memorandum to Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal, the BJP MPs expressed deep concern over the scuttling of paddy procurement by the State Government causing great distress to Odisha’s farmers.
The BJP MPs apprised the Union Minister that since 2014, over 370 lakh metric ton (LMT) of paddy has been procured by Central Government at Minimum Support Price amounting to Rs. 60,594 crores for Odisha’s farmers. Under PM-KISAN, Rs. 2000 is being transferred to each registered farmer every 3 months. So far Rs. 3,274.21 crores has been transferred to all the eligible registered farmers in Odisha. Under PM Fasal Bima Yojana Rs. 4424.85 crores worth of Insurance claims have been paid against crop failure to 20.94 lakh insured farmers.
The ruling party, in its misleading and Malicious statements about not receiving Central financial support for paddy procurement, has been conveniently trying to belie its own systematic failure in governance and management of allied agricultural & extension services to Odisha’s farmers. The BJP leader underlined reasons behind inexplicable delays and reduction in the procurement of paddy across Odisha after a bumper crop, which are longstanding malpractices, administrative inefficiencies and unethical abuse of authority by the State Government officials.
Despite this years’ better-than-expected harvest of paddy due to a favourable monsoon, the State Government did not revise its ceiling of paddy procurement of 19 quintals for every acre of irrigated land and 13 quintals for every acre of non-irrigated land. As a result thousands of farmers were left with unsold paddy which they had to sell at half the price of MSP fixed by the Central government, i.e. Rs. 1868 per quintal.
Adding to their turmoil are State’ Government’s administrative and technical failures due to which tokens supplied by the Civil Supplies department for Paddy Procurement Centres (PPC) are becoming invalid due to delay in procurement as each token is valid for only 30 days. Many registered farmers do not receive the token at all due to delays in verification of their plot, bank account Aadhaar and irrigated land by the State Government, while some receive tokens for dates even before the harvest of paddy is possible.
Furthermore, the sufferings of Odisha’s farmers due to lack of logistical support in storage and transport of their harvest are compounded by mandi mafia operating at in guise of brokers, agents, millers and other middie-men at PPCs with the connivance of State Government’s officials.
In addition, many farmers are unable to sell their produce in PPCs due to expired tokens. These poor paddy farmers are forced to forego 4-6 kg of paddy per quintal to the PPC brokers and agents: a practice which is locally dreaded as ‘katni chhatni’. It is well Known that the actual procurement at PPCs is much lesser than numbers divulged by the State Government.
Unable to afford the transportation and storage cost of returning their produce, Odisha’s paddy farmers are forced to sell their harvest at throw-away prices in the APMC Mandis. Without getting due renumeration, these farmers fall into an inescapable vicious cycle of debt and penury resulting in attempts to commit suicide.
“It appears that the State Government of Odisha has institutionalized the exploitation of Odisha’s paddy farmers through an inefficient & flawed paddy procurement processes, lack of logistical & storage support and an immoral symbiosis with mandi mafia operating in the guise of brokers, millers and other middle-men at PPCs,” the BJP MPs alleged in the memo.
The BJP MPs requested Goyal’s personal intervention in directing the Odisha Government for expeditiously completing the procurement of all unsold paddy in the State.
They also sought support for addressing the issues related to paddy procurement ie., the involvement of middle-men in paddy procurement in Odisha and streamlining of the entire process so as to ensure smooth, transparent and quick procurement of paddy at MSP which will go a long way in benefitting the farmers of Odisha and fulfill Hon’ble Prime Minister’s dream of doubling farmers’ income.
