A delegation of Odisha MPs met Union Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Wednesday regarding the problems faced by farmers in paddy procurement.
The meeting was held under the leadership of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, Vasant Kumar, Pratap Sarangi, Sangeeta Kumari, Nitish Gangdev and Aparajita Sarangi also participated in this meeting.
After the meeting, BJP leader Vasant Kumar said, "There are a lot of problems regarding the purchase of paddy. Farmers are not able to sell their paddy produce on time. They said that they are not receiving payments on time. They are trapped in the clutches of miller."
"They said the state government is a namesake government. RMC and other corporations charge taxes but do not invest in development," Kumar said.
Demanding justice for the farmers, he said, "Farmers need to go to Delhi for a token (for purchase of paddy) which should be given in their districts only. The State Government has not taken any action on the report submitted by the Manjhi Committee regarding the arrangement for farmers in the State."
"We demand that the report should be considered and farmers should be given justice," he added.
Meanwhile, Former Union Minister Pratap Sarangi also said, "We had raised this issue of farmers last year too, for which Manjhi Committee had visited Odisha to investigate the issue. The committee has given its report, but no action has been taken by the state government."
Sarangi slammed the Odisha government for not resolving the issue and said that "the state government itself does not want it to get resolved".
"The state government wants to deteriorate the system as the token is not distributed properly. Even earlier, this token used to get distributed from districts, but now, it takes place from the national capital. According to this system, if farmers do not sell their paddy production on time, then it will be cancelled," Sarangi said.
He said, "In Odisha, farmers sell paddy at a lower price because they are facing problems with the system. The state government takes out Rs 400-500 crores for its election expenses."
Sudhanshu Pandey, Secretary of the Department of Food and Public Distribution informed that the paddy procurement has been done in many states rather it is still going on in some states.
"Farmers are being paid money through Direct Bank Transfer (DBT). There are about 3,000 procurement centres in Odisha. The Manjhi Committee has given some suggestions during its visit to the states which will benefit farmers. The state government is continuously working on implementing those suggestions," Pandey said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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