AURANGABAD: The low rate offered for tur dal after a numper crop has prompted the government to crack the whip on errant traders.
Mary Neelima Kerketta, managing director of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited, on Thursday said traders found purchasing tur dal below the
Minimum Support Price
(MSP) of Rs 5,050 per quintal would face stern action, including suspension of their licences.
“The Centre has been dealing with the matter of purchase and sale of tul dal on a very serious note. Accordingly, MSP of tur dal has been fixed and those refusing to pay it would be subjected to stern action,” she said.
The senior official, who is on Marathwada tour, also said the government has relaxed norms related to purchase of tur dal. “Farmers need not produce list of documents including 7/12 extracts while selling the tur dal. They have to simply give an affidavit on plain paper stating that the produce belongs to them,” Kerketta said on Thursday.
Kerketta also appealed to farmers to sell their produce through
Agricultural Produce Market Committees
(APMCs). The district supply officers, APMC authorities, sub-divisional officers and tehsilar and his deputies have been instructed to closely monitor tur dal purchases from farmers.
The Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited has also asked the APMCs to open counters at conspicuous places on their premises for purchasing tur dal. The APMCs have been asked to help farmers right from cleaning their produce to packaging it. These committees, through purchase counters, have been also asked to counsel farmers about marketing and other techniques, Kerketta said.
On the issue of tur dal produce getting rejected for purchase for alleged substandard quality level, she said samples of such produce would be sent to the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) for cross-checking claims.
Kerketta and other senior officials have been visiting different APMCs and NAFED facilities with special focus on purchase of tur dal.
The Centre and the states faced heat of price rise when tur dal prices shot up to Rs 200 per kilogram in retail market in the recent past. Following bumper crop, the prices have come down to nearly Rs 80 to Rs 90 a kg.
Farmers leader Jayaji Suryawanshi, however, trashed official claims of purchase of
tur dal at MSP
. “Even government-run purchase centres have been purchasing tur dal at the price of Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,200 per quintal. We can produce receipts to support our claims and challenge top-authorities to take stern action,” he said.
Suryawanshi also said the Centre has made large buffer stock of tur dal by increasing import. The
huge buffer stock
is going to prove detrimental to farmers again as prices have been slashed due availability, he said.
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