Bhubaneswar: State Food Supply and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain Saturday expressed concerns over three controversial farm laws and said that the legislations hardly talk about assurance on minimum support price (MSP) and mandis.
He said, “Union leaders in the Parliament have said that the mandi system and MSP were there and will be there in place. However, the same has not been reflected well in the three controversial farm Bills. The government has not taken any step to rectify that. The Union government is trying its best to portray a pro-farmer image which is nothing but a drama.”
The FS&CW Minister also talked about the good progress in paddy procurement this year. “Last year, during the Kharif season we had seen lifting of around 53 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in the state. In the current year, we are lifting good amount of paddy every day. We are monitoring the process every year. We have completed procurement of more than 52 lakh metric tonne paddy till now. We are going to create a good record in paddy procurement this year.”
The minister also talked about ghost farmers who are trying to take benefit from the paddy procurement system of the state.
“Several districts are reporting good records and are ahead of their target now. I have ensured that tokens have been issued to genuine farmers. But we do not want traders from other states come to our state and take the benefit of our paddy procurement system. Opposition parties have tried to mislead people,” Swain added.
He also added, “We will do the verification of token beneficiaries through the Collectors and ensure welfare of the farmers. We want to weed out the dummy farmers from the system. The Agriculture department is also creating a good database of the farmers who are reaping benefits of paddy procurement. We are also giving timely payment to the farmers through direct benefit transfer (DBT).”