Tangail
Irregularities in Boro paddy procurement
Irregularities and corruption have been found in Boro rice and paddy procurement in five upazilas of Sherpur district. The drive that started on May 21 will continue until August 31. There are 1200 rice mills in the district, said district Rice Mill Owners Association sources. Of them, District Food Control Office has made deals with only of 664 rice mills to procure Boro rice and paddy in five upazilas of the district this year, said District Food Controller GM Faruk Hossain Patowari. In addition, 13 rice millers have been listed for procurement of fine rice, he added.
There are allegations that a number of closed rice mills are included in the list with an ill motive with the help of the rice mill Association and local political leaders in the district. This has violated the terms and conditions of the procurement policy.
On the other hand, some rice mills have become victims of allotment disparity in Boro procurement drive. Allotment has not been given considering the capacity of the rice mills. Prior to the contracts every upazila food controller has to conduct a survey as
per the policy guidelines to see whether or not the
mills have their own terraces, sufficient power supply, at least two houses for boiling paddy, one boiler and one storehouse.
Every qualified rice mill gets an allotment order for supply of minimum 35 tonnes and maximum 110 tonnes of rice based on the conditions of agreement and its capacity.
There are about 25 percent rice mills closed down or abandoned for a long time, said the association. They have been closed for several reasons, including the rise of automatic rice mills and import of Indian rice. But it has now been noticed that agreements have been made with those closed rice millers for procurement of rice and paddy, the association alleged.
Other sources said at least 100 rice mills, including Minhaj Rice Mill and Flower in Sadar upazila remained closed during the last 3 years. Besides, more than 200 others mills are facing a threat of closure. When contacted, Asaduzzaman Rowshawn, General Secretary of the District Rice Mill Owners Association, refused to give the accurate data on the closed rice mills.
Rice Mill Owners Association Vice-President Delowar Hossain said: There allegations of irregularities and corruption against the Boro procurement drive. Upazila Food Controller Abdul Baten said: Agreement has been made with the rice mills on the basis of the list provided by the investigation committee. Boro procurement campaign committee chief and Nalitabari UNO Md Abu Sayed Mollah said: An abandoned rice mill can never be contracted for Boro procurement.
District Food Controller GM Faruk Hossain Patowari said measures will be taken against the closed rice mills if they receive allotment order on Boro procurement. He has already terminated allotment given to nine closed rice mills in the Jhinaigati upazila on June 8.
A total of 40,107 tonnes of rice and 1,821 tonnes of paddy have been set as procurement targets for the current season, said District Food Controll Office Sources. This compares with 38,553 tonnes in 2014.
Only 12,394 tonnes of rice were collected from five upazilas of the district till June 9.
The government failed to achieve the procurement target in the last few years for different reasons, including limited food storage capacity, high market prices than the government rate and the disagreement with most of rice mills on procurement campaign.
However, it has set the procurement rate for rice at Tk 32 per kg and paddy at Tk 22 in 2015 against Tk 31 per kg for rice and paddy at Tk 20 per kg in 2014.
Abdul Salam, Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said farmers cultivated Boro paddy on a total of 89,095 hectares of land against the target of 86,810 hectares in five upazilas of the district this year. They have produced a total of 3, 55,062 tonnes of food production, which is in excess of the target set for the year.
