Trichy: Farmers in Kulithalai alleged foul play by civil supplies corporation officials that they colluded with traders to delay the paddy procurement process.
Paddy is being procured from farmers through eight direct procurement centres that are functional in Karur district from mid-January. Farmers, however, allege that they are made to wait for more than a week and traders or middle men who get paddy from several farmers manage to get their paddy procured in priority with the help of officials at the paddy procurement centres.
Direct procurement centres are meant to procure paddy directly from farmers to prevent exploitation by traders who may procure their produce at cheap rates.
P Balakrishnan, 56, a farmer, has been waiting to get his 600 bags of paddy procured at the paddy procurement centre (PPC) in Panikampatti of Kulithalai in Karur district for the last one week. While token has been given to farmers so that they bring their produce in turns, Balakrishnan said that the token system is not being followed and traders are given priority. Farmers like him are made to wait for days together.
A senior official from the Civil Supplies Corporation in Karur district said that an additional unit has been set up at the paddy procurement centre at Panikkampatti village to expedite the procurement process.
Ruling out any irregularities in the procurement process, the official attributed the delay to multiple factors including the huge quantity of paddy being brought by the farmers. While 1,000 bags are the maximum limit for the daily procurement, it is carried beyond 1,500 bags to benefit the farmers.
Blaming the farmers for the delay, an official from the Panikkampatti PPC said that many farmers have dumped their produce in front of the PPC without prior information. Saying that they have to follow the protocol in the procurement process and only after verifying the documents of farmers, procurement is being made.
