Distressed Paddy Sale: 319 Gunny Bags Seized In Malkangiri

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KalingaTV News Network

Malkangiri: In a major catch, the District Civil Supply officials seized as many as 319 gunny bags of paddy and a truck from Katameta village of the district, late last night.

Based on specific input, the officials led by Manoj Pradhan, Assistant Civil Supply Officer (ACSO) conducted a check at the village, around 25 km away from the district headquarter in the midnight. They unearthed a truck, loaded with paddy bags along with rice hulls, near a Biju Pucca Ghar of the village.

The truck driver was detained by the local police immediately.

When enquired, the officials found that local businessmen purchased paddy from the farmers of the district at rates much below the Minimum Support Price (MSP), say Rs 900 to Rs 1000 and sold in higher prices in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

This year, the State Government has fixed a minimum support price of paddy at Rs 1,550 per quintal for normal variety and Rs 1,590 per quintal for grade-A variety.

“As per the direction of the District Collector, we conducted a check at Katameta village last night and found that the business men are buying paddy from the farmers with very low price and transporting the paddy along with rice hulls to Andhra Pradesh,” said Pradhan while speaking to Kalinga TV.

“The main objective of such checking is to encourage the farmers to sell their harvested paddy at the Mandi, get right price of their hard-earned crops and not to sell paddy to the businessmen at a low price,” he added.

Yesterday, the Civil Supplies department raided as many as 21 rice mills in the district after alleged embezzlement of nearly 5 to 7 kg of paddy per quintal at rice mills was reported.

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