After CM prod, state Food dept cracks whip on middlemen
Kolkata: Following Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's directions, the state Food and Supplies department has started a crackdown on the middlemen who have been causing difficulties in procurement of paddy from the farmers.
The Chief Minister, during a meeting at Nabanna on December 19, expressed her concern over the middlemen menace and issued necessary instructions to the Food and Supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick in this regard.
She reiterated the position of her government saying that it wanted to procure directly from the farmers thereby increasing the target of the overall paddy procurement in the state. The government has set a target of procuring 58 lakh metric tonnes of paddy. At times, some middlemen get involved in the process as a result of which the farmers are often deprived.
Prodded by the Chief Minister, the Food department conducted raids on Saturday across the state and arrested nine persons. Around 33 quintals of rice have been seized from various places. It was also learnt that 52 rice mills
have been blacklisted for some irregularities. Around eight rice mills have been alerted.
To iron out the menace, the Food department will distribute cheques among farmers from January 1 next year. The Chief Minister had earlier directed the food supply department to be more vigilant and take all possible measures to iron out the problem.
Echoing the Chief Minister's thoughts, Mallick said they would not allow any irregularities in the system and strong action would be taken against the middlemen.
Various rice mills in North
Bengal have been given a time limit within which they have to supply rice to the government, failing which, the department would take legal action against them.
The minister also said that he would go through the vigilance report every Sunday to ensure that there are no irregularities in the process.
On the other hand, raids were conducted in various districts including Jalpaiguri, Uttar Dinajpur, East Burdwan and North 24-Parganas from where nine persons, who used to work as middlemen, have been arrested.
Mallick clearly stated that his department would ensure that the farmers get the minimum support price for their produces.
The state government wants that the farmers sell their paddy directly to the government and the payments would be done through cheques. Surveillance would be conducted from time-to-time to check if there is any irregularity taking place.
The Chief Minister had stressed on a similar procedure where the entire process will become more transparent and hassle free.
It may be mentioned here that the state government is going set up additional 2,000 centres besides the existing Kisan Mandis where the farmers can come and sell their stocks.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had asked the various government agencies to procure the entire stock of paddy that the farmers bring for sale. No farmer can be turned down and they cannot be deprived of the minimum support price for paddy procurement, she had told the departments.
