Paddy sprouts, but not profit

A worried Chief Minister Raman Singh criss-crossed the state on Friday to assess the damage and admitted on his return that the rice has indeed begun sprouting. ‘‘I could see layers and layers of paddy shoots in the jute bags. I visited three centres and feel the situation in the others would not be very different,’’ he said.

The state’s three-month-long paddy procurement drive had come to an end last week. While the procurement records surpass every season, the government has done little to improve storage facilities. As a result, every year, the stock spills over and is dumped in the open.

So far, only 4.25 lakh tonnes of paddy has been sent to rice mills and 3.8 lakh tonnes has been lifted by the FCI. The stock lying in godowns and that covered by polythene sheets is safe, but the sprouted paddy will be completely damaged unless it is taken out of the sacks and refilled.

Yet, Raman feels the losses will not exceed Rs 150 crore — it was a whopping Rs 500 crore in 2001-2002. He has put the blame on the sudden rains and not the heavy procurement or delay in sending the stock to rice mills.

Against a target of 25 lakh MTs fixed for the year, the actual procurement has surpassed the previous year’s record of 27 lakh MTs. But the CM is optimistic about covering the losses, pinning his hope on the rising price of rice from Rs 954 to Rs 1,049 per quintal.

In the past four years, the state has already suffered an accumulated loss of Rs 1,000 crore in paddy procurement. A special audit on the losses suffered, mainly due to delayed milling and mishandling of the stock, is already underway. Most of the procurement work in Chhattisgarh is done through cooperative societies, and this year alone, the government has borrowed Rs 1,500 crore from the RBI to make payments to farmers.

It has been alleged that the government was draining money on paddy procurement instead of spending it on development schemes. In the previous Congress regime too, then CM Ajit Jogi had staged a dharna outside the PM’s residence to demand procurements by the FCI. As no help came, Jogi went ahead with procurements, raising Rs 1,800 crore from the RBI.

Raman says Jogi was only playing politics. ‘‘We have no plan to stage a dharna at the PMO. All we need is to find ways to help the farmers without imposing burden on the state exchequer,’’ he adds.