Bhubaneswar, March 31: The Congress party has claimed a significant scandal in the rice procurement system in Odisha. On Tuesday, they accused the government of causing harm to farmers through alleged irregularities. The party also alleged collusion among relevant government officials and the state’s Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Minister.
Abhay Kumar Sahu, president of the state Farmers’ Congress, and senior Congress leader Surdashan Das stated that due to these irregularities, thousands of farmers have been deprived of their rightful earnings. Despite set procurement targets, approximately 113,000 farmers have yet to sell their rice, highlighting serious flaws in the system.
The party has demanded that the state government take immediate action to procure rice from the 113,000 farmers who registered to sell their produce. Congress leaders accused rice mill owners, food supply department officials, and cooperatives of colluding, leading to manipulation of the procurement process and misuse of funds.
According to senior Congress leader Surdashan Das, a ’80:20 formula’ is being implemented for rice procurement across the state. Farmers are reportedly assured that their entire yield will be purchased, but in practice, they receive full payment only to be forced to return 20% of that amount to mill owners.
The party also accused mill owners of making arbitrary deductions of 10-11 kilograms per quintal. Based on procurement figures exceeding 7.684 million metric tons and an 8-kilogram deduction per quintal, Congress claimed that these deductions mean approximately 600,000 metric tons of additional rice were taken from farmers, amounting to over ₹1,500 crores.
Congress leaders alleged irregularities amounting to around ₹4.65 million in a cooperative society in Jaleswar, stating that similar practices are prevalent in most of the state’s 4,277 cooperative societies.
Furthermore, Congress alleged that this scandal is occurring with the knowledge of the relevant minister and in collusion with officials and leaders of the ruling party. If the government fails to procure rice from all farmers and address the alleged corruption in the system, a statewide movement will be launched in April.
Arpit Soni has had a passion for journalism since the beginning. Now he has turned this hobby into his profession. Arpit, who is a resident of Udaipur, enjoys editing and writing news related to journalism. He has worked as a Senior Content Producer in several important roles at Bhaskar, Patrika, Pratahkal, Punjab Kesari, and Times. Arpit completed his schooling in Udaipur and Jaipur. He has been working in the media industry for more than 10 years, and his journey is still continuing. ✍️📚
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