Malkangiri: Officials of the civil supplies department Monday seized 400 packets of paddy, kept to be smuggled out, from the backyard of a house near MV-17 under Sadar block in this district.
While the seized sacks have been kept at Shiv Shankar Rice Mill here, a person is being quizzed over the matter, civil supplies officer (CSO) Abhimanyu Mohanty said.
Acting on some inputs, the sub-collector asked the civil supplies department to seize the consignment.
According to reports, the brokers usually purchase paddy from needy farmers at throwaway prices and sell them at higher prices to millers at the procurement centres. They also smuggle out paddy to other states, it was learnt.
The district administration has its kept eyes on the middlemen who are trying to lure farmers to sell their produce at price lower than the government-fixed MSP, an official said.
Earlier, the administration had seized hundreds of paddy packets and identified eight middlemen who were selling paddy at a mandi in Padia block after collecting the stock from farmers, it was learnt.
The officials recently seized paddy consignments from a godown near MV-79.
The brokers mostly purchase paddy at the rate of Rs 1,000 per quintal from farmers and sell them at Rs 1,500 at the mandis, claimed the members of a farmers’ outfit who appreciated the move by the administration.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the 400 sacks of paddy were bought from the farmers and stored to be supplied to other states, CSO Mohanty said. PNN