According to the government, there has been widespread corruption in kharif rice procurement

Bhubaneswar, The state has witnessed widespread corruption in kharif rice procurement in the 20-20-21 financial year. At the behest of the leaders of the ruling party, the editors of the Agricultural Cooperative Society acted. The department has suspended the editors of 15 primary agricultural co-operative societies for allegedly violating government directives, such as eating pans and sticking them on their heads. Khod State Cooperatives Minister Ranendra Pratap Swamy admits that there has been widespread corruption in the purchase of kharif paddy across the state.

BJP co-operative chamber state coordinator Pabitra Mohan Das has questioned why the minister did not take action against officials and leaders of the ruling party who exploited farmers and looted millions of rupees in the name of farmers. In the past, the minister's constituency has been embezzled by unnamed agricultural loans and unaccounted for by many innocent farmers. The chief minister tried to cover up the incident by suspending some of the poorest employees in the scam. Similarly, 70 per cent of the 35 mandis in the state today have witnessed widespread corruption in the procurement of paddy, while the suspension of only 15 innocent editors has been attempted by the government.

In fact, the honeymoon of the government administration and the Millers honeymoon is the root cause of rice procurement corruption. That is why the government seems to be advocating for the benefit of the millers instead of the interests of the farmers. The editor or high-ranking officials are responsible for not giving farmers bamboo, ropes, labor charges, drinking water, leases, rice storage houses, restrooms, etc. ARCS, DRCS, RMC editors, district supply officials are responsible, while CSOs and millers are responsible for the cotton cut. But why is the government reluctant to take action?

Mr. Das demanded that the Cooperatives Minister immediately disclose what the government has in common with it. He also urged the state government to go to neighboring Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh on its own to manage the mandis and buy paddy, and to go to the ground zero mandis in Odisha to check its standards.