Facing problem to sell paddy this season? Dial Chhattisgarh police!

Chhattisgarh police have a new assignment; jotting down grievances of the farmers facing problem to sell paddy at the government-owned societies.

Following a huge chunk of paddy damaged in the last one month due to unseasonal rainfall and alleged hardship faced by the farmers to sell the yield, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel appealed farmers to lodge their grievances in emergency service number 112. Commonly known as Dial 112, the service is managed by the Chhattisgarh police to facilitate complaints of all emergency services in a single number.

The cops, normally recording the complaints related to crime and natural disaster, have surreal grievances to jot down. The farmers whose paddy was damaged in the untimely rainfall were calling in the Dial 112 service and enquiring from the policemen where and how they could sell their soaked yield.

Even callers were registering complaints of alleged irregularities in the societies, informing the call centre that the outlet was not opened or the staff had not come while they were standing for hours with the produce. Many farmers had also pointed out that their entire yield was not purchased by the authorities and what was the remedy.

The Chhattisgarh police, however, do not have any mechanism to redress their grievances. “The farmers are lodging their complaints that we are forwarding it to the Chhattisgarh Marketing Federation,” Dharmendra Garg, Superintendent of Police and in-charge of Dial 112, said.

The federation, which is the nodul agency to procure paddy in Chhattisgarh at minimum support price (MSP), had set up a special cell to look into the complaints forwarded by the police. While on average 20 complaints had been registered every say, there was reportedly no record on how much had been redressed.