NEWS reports said at Dhupchanchia Upazila of Bogra district some ruling party leaders have used false signature and duplicated ‘farmer’s card’ of several locally registered farmers, some of them even not alive now, to supply 375 metric tonnes of paddy to government godowns at twice the market price. They made a profit of Tk 4 million by supplying the paddy under the government paddy procurement which was launched from May 1. The government procurement is meant for buying paddy directly from registered farmers as a way of subsidizing a fair price for their produce when market price falls flat. Ruling party men exploited the opportunity using false copies of their farmer’s card and made enormous profits when the actual card holders knew nothing about it.
The disclosure was made on the basis of a randomly carried out investigation of 20 names from a list of 131 farmers who reportedly supplied paddy to the government godowns. The field level probe revealed that two of the 20 were actually dead, though paddy was supplied and money collected in their names. Of the remaining 18 farmers, 14 said they were not aware about it. Three said they had sold paddy to the government store. Another declined to comment. The three who admitted to have supplied were in fact Upazila Awami League vice president; his brother who is a former Awami League vice president and a third brother of them.
Local disclosure said earlier a party meeting was held to streamline the paddy procurement drive and an understanding was reached how to supply 378 metric tonnes on mutual sharing. The question is, if all these people didn’t provide paddy to the government godown, how the records had their signature as they are maintained on their farmer’s cards. Investigations showed that, in most cases, the signature on the cards did not match the signature in the register. Several party leaders admitted that they had sold paddy to the godown, using others cards. When paddy was sold to the godowns, the market price of coarse paddy was Tk 10 to Tk 11 per kg. The government’s procurement price was Tk 22 per kg. This indicates that, by supplying 378 metric tonnes leaders of the Awami League and its affiliated bodies, made a profit of around Tk 4 million.
The government operates the rice and paddy procurement drive to ensure that farmers are getting fair price for their produce. This good initiative cannot be thwarted by a handful of party opportunists. As it is, the farmers do not get fair prices for their produce while rent-seekers are making illegal fortune. We call for stern action against the elements, whoever that be, who made a quick buck at the expense of the farmers while pushing the paddy procurement drive to failure. Cheating the farmers can’t be acceptable when they can’t recover their production cost. The highly corrupt local party men must be brought to book.
