Governor ESL Narasimhan has sought report from the Chhattisgarh government in connection with the alleged corruption in the procurement of paddy in the state.
The action came after the main opposition party in the state, the Congress, lodged a complaint about serious irregularities in procuring paddy from farmers. The party demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter.
The Congress party demanded a white paper by the government on paddy procurement after alleging a corruption to the tune of Rs 1000 crore.
The Congress leaders said that 1 million tonne of fake procurement had been made in the state. The State Congress President, Dhanendra Sahu had earlier charged that the state government’s claim of procuring 3.7 million tonnes of paddy in the state was under scanner as 33 tehsils that produce paddy had been declared drought-affected.
The state government should inform from where paddy came, Sahu said. The official website of the state government mentioned that the production in an acre was 15 quintal this year. But the record of paddy procurement maintained purchase of 75 quintals of paddy from the farmers who owned an acre of land, Sahu said.
Following the Raj Bhawan seeking report from the state government, the entire administration had swung into action to compile the figures. Sources said the state government had asked all district collectors to collect the details and sent it to the government. The collectors have been asked to keep a watch on cases in which farmers holding small pieces of land had sold huge quantity of paddy to get the minimum support price (MSP).
