Mahbubnagar: Farmers smell a rat in IKP procurement

Mahbubnagar: Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP) Self-help Group centers in Bomraspet of Kodangal constituency of Mahbubnagar district are allegedly cheating the farmers by manipulating weighing machines and steeling excess paddy grains up to 500 grams for every bag and causing great loss to the farmers.

When the farmers raised doubts about the weighing machines and confronted the IKP organisers about the excess weighing here on Tuesday, the IKP authorities spoke with them rudely and dared them to complaint to anyone over this. Aggrieved over this, the farmers staged a protest and lodged a complaint with local MPTC Shravan Kumar Goud.

Later, the farmers and the MPTC lodged a complaint with Bomraspet Tahsildar and agriculture department officials. Based on their complaint, a team of officials led by Tahsildar Shaida Begum, agriculture officer Rajesh and the MPTC visited all the 15 IKP centers established in Bomraspet mandal and found out that the organisers were weighing 500 grams excess for every bag.

Tahsildar Shaida Begum said that they had already acknowledged the complaint and found out that the organisers were misleading the farmers by manipulating the weighing machines and weighing an excess of 500 grams during their field investigation. A report was submitted to the higher authorities and soon action will be taken against all those IKP procurement centres, where the authorities are cheating the farmers and causing them a great loss, she added.

The farmers alleged that all the IKP centres were doing the same thing and looting them. "We are bringing our produce to sell at IKP centers because the government is procuring paddy at a minimum support price of Rs 1,888. However, the IKP organisers are causing a great loss to us by looting 500 grams per every bag," a farmer vented out his anger.