Raipur, January 12, 2012
Former leader of opposition in Vidhan Sabha and senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma alleges that paddy worth crores got drenched in the recent unseasonal rains due to government’s negligence. “This is a major loss for the state and it happened because the government lacks foresightedness,” said Karma on Thursday.
“The government had issued orders to the cooperative societies to make proper safety arrangements for paddy during procurement procedures. However, it did not provide funds to the societies to expand their storage capacity to save paddy from abrupt rains. Without fund, how come the government expects from the societies to follow its instruction,” said Karma.
“Now, when large amount of paddy got drenched, the government is trying to shirk responsibility by making the society staffers scapegoat. The government’s declaration that the loss of paddy would be compensated from low salaried society employees is an immature decision and clear indication that it has yielded before corrupt system,” Karma added.
“The government procured 51 lakh MT paddy from the farmers in 2010-11 and received Rs 21.21 crore from Centre at the rate of Rs 4.16 per quintal of paddy procured. But it did not spend even a single rupee from this whopping fund on safety of paddy in the societies,” said Karma seeking expenditure details of the fund from the government.
He said the government would receive about Rs 22.88 crore from Centre against targeted procurement of 55 lakh MT paddy in the current fiscal, but doubt its intensions. “Let us see whether the government will give funds to the societies this time or not,” he said.
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