Koraput December 7 : Already in distress due to alleged ‘Katni Chatni’ and issues with Minimum Support Price (MSP), the farmers have now launched protests alleging irregularities in paddy procurement citing that they are deprived of registration.<\/p>\n
Many farmers from Bisinghpur panchayat under Borigumma block of Koraput district alleged that they have been left out of registration with the respective primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) for sale of\u00a0Kharif paddy to the State’s designated agencies.<\/p>\n
What the alleged non-registration has done is the farmers are not being able to sale their produce at the mandis.<\/p>\n
Even as they complained before the district supplies officer to look into their grievances, nothing has been done so far. As per the allegations, instead of real farmers, many middlemen, traders and ‘fake’ farmers have registered themselves with the cooperative societies to sell paddy.<\/p>\n
Sources said when a local youth moved Orissa High Court over the prevailing farmers’ issues, the Court directed the district administration and supplies in-charge to initiate a probe into the allegations of farmers.<\/p>\n
Based on the directive, Borigumma Tehsildar along with Revenue supervisor visited various panchayats to review the progress of farmers’ registration and facilitate smooth sale of kharif produce at the mandis.<\/p>\n
As per official sources, the State has witnessed a 21 per cent growth in farmers’ registration for procurement of paddy under the MSP scheme for the 2020-21 kharif season. While last year around 12.35 lakh farmers had registered for selling their produce, this time close to 15 lakh farmers have registered themselves through an online system for the kharif paddy procurement programme.
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