Sushil hits out at Nitish for slow pace of paddy procurement

BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today hit out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, alleging the state government has failed to meet its paddy procurement target.
"Against a target of procuring 27 lakh tonnes of paddy this fiscal, the state government has claimed to have purchased only 3.25 lakh tonnes so far," he said in a statement here.
"Even this claim is high as the actual procurement is even less than 2 lakh tonnes... The financial year will be over in one-and-a-half months time. Can the state government be able to procure rest 25 lakh tonnes in this time?" said Modi, who is Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council.

The BJP leader said Rs 3,807 crore was needed for paddy procurement but the districts have been provided only Rs 244 crore for the purpose.
He said two lakh tonnes of rice was deposited in the godowns of state Food Corporation, which is far short at 18,000 tonnes at present. "The state Food Corporation has neither bought sacks for collecting rice nor has officials to check quality of the rice," he said.
"After winning the election, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is unconcerned about farmers and is roaming in other states for cobbling up support of parties against BJP," he added.