‘Convene tripartite meeting for paddy procurement issues’ – Times of India

Trichy: As the early samba paddy crop raised in the delta districts will be ready for harvest by the end of December, farmers have appealed to the state government to convene a tripartite meeting to discuss the paddy procurement and related issues faced by them.
The state government usually convenes a tripartite meeting before the commencement of samba paddy harvest, where ministers from agriculture and food department, Tamil Nadu civil supplies corporation (TNCSC) MD, collectors of delta districts, officials from the agriculture department, regional managers of TNCSC and representatives of farmers’ associations would participate.
“Every year tripartite meeting would be conducted by any one of the districts in the delta region before the commencement of procurement at DPCs. This year, cultivable areas have increased due to good monsoon and continuous flow in Cauvery. So, harvest of early samba in many places in the districts is going to commence by the end of December. There are a number of issues revolving at DPCs across the delta districts to be resolved. So, the meeting should be convened at the earliest to fix the procurement price for paddy,” secretary of Thanjavur district Cauvery farmers’ protection association, Swamimalai S Vimalnathan said.
The long-pending demand of procurement at field itself should be considered for the benefits of farmers, he added.
As there are widespread allegations against the staff of DPCs asking bribe to procure paddy, the stage government should take concrete steps to stop the unfair practice from across the delta region, he stressed.
“To prevent any such unfair practices at the DPCs, the government should take steps to fix CCTV cameras in all the centres immediately besides establishing proper shed to safeguard paddy bags at the centre,” Vimalnathan further stated.