Bhubaneswar: Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday slammed the state government for its decision to close paddy procurement after February 28. It comes two months before the usual deadline.
Congress leader Bibhu Prasad Tarai said, “The government’s decision seems to help rice millers to make money. The farmers will be forced to sell their harvest at a price of Rs 1200 to Rs1300 per quintal, which is far below the minimum support price (MSP).”
The government has taken this decision to mint money to meet its election expenditure, the Congress leader alleged.
Alleging an unholy nexus between millers and the state government, BJP General Secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said the government even failed to procure surplus paddy from farmers, which is unfortunate.
However, Food Supply and Consumer Welfare minister Surya Narayan Patro has a different story to tell. According to Patro, the government has procured 45 per cent more paddy than the previous year. If the process of paddy procurement continues, the brokers will try and loot government money by furnishing false documents. This restriction is necessary to check those brokers.”
This statement by the minister raised questions on the transparency of the paddy procurement process adopted by the state government.
The state Food Supply and Consumer Welfare department has recently asked collectors of 19 districts to complete the paddy procurement process by February 28.
The 19 districts are Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Khurda, Malakangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Puri, Rayagada and Sundergarh.
Earlier, the government had ordered for completion of paddy procurement in other districts by February 20.
PNN