BJP Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao has written a letter to Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution System Piyush Goyal, urging him to take steps to investigate the “irregularities in paddy procurement and payments to the farmers in Andhra Pradesh.”
In the letter, Mr. Rao said there were many complaints from the paddy farmers from across Andhra Pradesh about “rampant malpractices” in procurement.
“Andhra Pradesh follows decentralised procurement system, and the State agencies undertake procurement operations. Unscrupulous middlemen, rice millers, corrupt officials and politicians have entered into a nexus, and have profited from paddy procurement operations. Further, the State government has not been paying the farmers for several months (three to six months) in most cases though it has been receiving funds in advance from the Central government. It is suspected that this advance fund from the Central government is being diverted for other purposes,” Mr. Rao said in the letter.
