The Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) has denied allegations that traders are selling their paddy at direct purchase centres in Tiruvarur district.
At the farmers grievance meeting, chaired by Collector T. Anand here on Thursday, TNCSC Regional Manager (in-charge) G. Chirtarasu said paddy was being procured from farmers only if they produced copies of patta and adangal certificate asserting that the produce was harvested from the agriculture land bearing the survey number mentioned in the certificate in that particular village.
Further, the bill for procurement would get generated only if the details were fed into the system and the bill amount got credited to the farmer’s bank account through electronic clearing system.
Hence, ‘incidents’ of traders selling their paddy at DPCs could not happen unless some farmers willingly lent their support. At the same time, 32 DPC staff had been placed under suspension for various ‘mistakes’ committed by them during procurement, he said.
Masilamani of Tiruvarur and other farmers defended their statement claiming that DPC staff misused their documents and other details in favour of the traders.
Prabhakaran of Melapalayur in Kudavasal taluk said farmers of Thirukudi near Melapalayur said one or two paddy bags stacked in the open by farmers on the local DPC campus were found missing regularly though a night watchman had been posted at the centre.
On Mannargudi MLA’s T.R.B. Raja’s mention of measurement of paddy in excess of the permitted limit of 580 gm per 40 kg of paddy bag, the Collector responded by pointing out that ‘extra’ quantity of grains was measured to offset the loss in weight to be incurred by the corporation subsequently. Even this ‘extra’ quantity was accounted by the Corporation in the records.
The Collector expressed confidence that the procurement target of 5 lakh tonnes of paddy for the season could be achieved. So far 3.59 lakh tonnes of paddy had been procured through 463 DPCs and a sum of ₹623 crore had been disbursed to farmers through ECS.
A farmer, however, said: “Everyone is aware that Gall Midge and other diseases had affected samba and thaladi cultivation in certain areas of the district and the yield had dropped by 50%. Such being the case, boasting about procurement may affect the chances of farmers getting compensation from insurance companies.”
