Balasore/Bhadrak: With the distress sale of paddy continuing in many parts of Balasore, farmers and secretaries of several cooperative societies are flooding the district administration with written complaints.
According to reports, Barunsingh Cooperative Society has achieved only 25 per cent of paddy procurement while hundreds of quintals of paddy stocked at the society.
Besides, farmers in Odhangi and Chasakhand panchayats have alleged distress sale of paddy.
Eight hundred and forty-two farmers have registered for paddy procurement at Barunsingh Cooperative Society under Remuna block. The society has procured only 11,000 quintals from 320 farmers while paddy of 480 farmers has remained unsold.
Jayant Kumar Das, president of the Barunsingh Cooperative Society, in his complaint to Collector Ramesh Chandra Rout stated that the condition of farmers who are unable to sell their produce will worsen in the coming days. The government will be responsible for their condition, Das said.
Olanda Services Cooperative Society is supposed to procure 28,000 quintals of grains from 486 registered farmers, but only 8,530 quintals of paddy have been procured till date, alleged farmers Shantanu Das and Bijay Kumar Das.
Similarly, Achuyt Kumar Bhuyan of Nizampur said, “I cultivate paddy in two acres of land and get 50 to 60 quintals per annum. After online registration, I was allowed to sell 28 quintals. I kept visiting the society without success. No paddy was procured from me this year. I had no way but to sell it for Rs 1,100 per quintal.”
He also complained to the Collector that every year, due to ‘conspiracy of the society’, he has not been able to sell paddy.
A report from Bhandaripokhari in Bhadrak said, with paddy remaining unsold and the procurement system in disarray, traders and middlemen are raking in the moolah in various parts of the district.
Alleging irregularities in paddy procurement, some farmers staged protests outside the Naguan Primary Cooperative Society and even locked it Monday. They alleged that the society has engaged some traders to procure paddy and supply it to millers.
Though the society is said to have procured more paddy than that of the previous year, many farmers have not been able to sell their produce this year. The society has registered some traders as farmers and procured paddy from them.
Recently, farmers had detained a paddy-laden truck in Bhandaripokhari and the consignment had no valid document. The truck had been handed over to the local police.
PNN