Cong alleges irregularities in paddy procurement in C'garh

The oppositionCongresstoday created uproarin the Chhattisgarh assembly over the issue of alleged irregularities in paddy procurement in the state.
As many as 34 Congress MLAs weresuspendedafter they trooped into the well in the House raising slogans against the government. However, theirsuspensionwas revoked later.
Due to the pandemonium, Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal had to adjourn the House proceedings for 10 minutes.
Soon after the Question Hour, stateCongressPresident andMLABhupesh Baghel while raising the issue through his adjournment motion notice, said as the state has witnessed high production of paddy (in the kharif crop year 2016-17) but in spite of that the state government had set a target of procuring 70 lakh MT in 2016-17.

The state has 37 lakh farmer families, out of which credit cards have been given to only 22.44 lakh. Due to administrative hurdles in the registration process for paddy procurement, only 14.51 lakh peasants get themselves registered with cooperative societies, he said.
Till January 31, 2017, 13.27 lakh farmers sold their paddy but 1.24 lakh farmers failed to do so as no prior arrangements were made for paddy procurement and large scale irregularity in the process, he said.

Baghel and other Congress MLAs further claimed that due to unavailability of gunny bags in Rajanandgaon Bilaspur, Bemetara, Kanker, Jagdalpur, Mahasamund, Durg, Dhamtari, Balod, Janjgir-Champa districts, the procurement centres were closed for 10 days.

Baghel also said the incidents of irregularities in weighing paddy at procurement centres were also reported at some places.
Another Congress MLA Dhanendra Sahu said, the state has recorded a high production of 1.30 crore MT paddy.
But the state government failed to make efficient arrangements for payments against paddy procurement, therefore farmers had to sale their 50 lakh MT paddy to traders and middleman at throwaway prices which caused a huge loss of Rs 3,500 crore to them, he claimed.
The opposition members also charged thatthe paddy from neighbouring states was being sold in Chhattisgarh.
In his reply, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Punnulal Mohile said no target has been set for paddy procurement under support price.

For fair and transparent paddy procurement,
registration process was implemented. In kharif marketing year 2016-17, 14.51 lakh farmers registered for selling their paddy under support price which is highest in previous 3 years, the minister said.
To prevent sale of paddy to middlemen, for the first time Aadhaar number of the farmers were enrolled during the registration, he said.
It is the responsibility of farmers to bring their produce at procurement centers. It is incorrect to say that 1. 24 lakh farmers could not sale their paddy to cooperatives, the minister said.
He also said enough gunny bags were arranged for the procurement.

Farmers have been made online/cheque payments of Rs 10,317 crore through cooperatives against purchasing their paddy, the minister added.
Subsequently, the speaker Agrawal rejected the adjournment motion notice.
Unsatisfied with the ruling, theCongressstarted anti-government sloganeering saying that the government had promised to purchase every single grain of the farmers but now ditching them.
They also demanded to disburse Rs 300 bonus to farmers against their each quintal of paddy. As many as 34 Congress legislators infringed into well of the house following which they were automaticallysuspendedas per the rules of the House.
Thereafter, the Speaker adjourned the House for ten minutes. Their suspension was revoked later.

Congress legislators alsosat on a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in the assembly premises before they returned inside the House to take part in further proceeding.