Assam: Who Will Stop the Rot in Agriculture Department?

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Is all well with the agriculture department in Assam? This question seems pertinent as a large number of fake beneficiaries got the benefits under PM-Kishan; black marketing of subsidized fertilizers makes farmers buy them at higher rates; subsidized tractors meant for small farmers are being allotted to financially well-off people, and the like, taking place glaringly.

The department issued an SOP (standard operating procedure) to regulate the sales of subsidized fertilizers. However, even now, in many districts like Dhubri, Kamrup, Barpeta, Goalpara, etc., fertilizers are sold in the black markets, making the farmers pay through their noses. This is despite the dealers getting fertilizers at subsidized rates on a regular basis. Even a section of unauthorized shops is also selling fertilizers at higher rates. With the dealers creating an artificial shortage of subsidized fertilizers, the farmers have no way out but to buy fertilizers from the black market at higher rates. How come this happens under the very nose of a department that has adequate manpower?

Following the recent detection of financially well-off people being selected as beneficiaries in the distribution of subsidized tractors, the Gauhati High Court had to ask the department to deny the well-off individuals the scheme’s benefits. Is the wrong selection of beneficiaries intentional on the part of the officers at the helm of affairs in the selection, or negligence on their part? This needs to be kept on the radar.

This is not the first case of rampant anomalies in the selection of beneficiaries by the department. Such an anomalous selection of beneficiaries under the PM-Kishan Sanman Nidhi two years ago allowed lakhs of ineligible farmers to take crores of rupees. In that case too, the Gauhati High did ask the department to make the ineligible beneficiaries cough up the money.

However, two years have already elapsed. Only 2,233 ineligible beneficiaries paid back their amounts. Strangely enough, the department has not taken any drastic action against the officers whose negligence or nepotism led to such a loss.

Assam is basically an agrarian state where the farmers do not get facilities that can help them. The department has not been able to provide the required number of cold storage facilities for the farmers. The lack of cold storage makes farmers suffer as perishable products like potatoes, tomatoes, etc., rot away when not sold in time. According to sources, the state has only 40 cold storage facilities, mostly in the private sector. Since the private cold storages charge higher rates of fees, poor farmers cannot afford to keep their products in them.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has taken several measures to bring the anomalous Agriculture department back on track. However, even now the department is far from providing benefits to the farmers at the grassroots level. Who will stop the rot in the department?

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