Set up paddy procurement centre at Majuli, CM told

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 19: The United Majulians’ Association (UMA) has requested Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal to set up a paddy procurement centre at Majuli so as to let the farmers of the river island get right prices of their produce. The UMA is of the opinion that the farmers of the river are always deprived of getting the right prices of their produces as they have no paddy procurement centre at door their step. “Communication bottlenecks between Majuli and Jorhat never allow the farmers of the river island to go to Jorhat to sell paddy. The river island is isolated from the rest of the State, so are the farmers here. They never get the right prices of their produce, let alone the minimum support price (MSP) as fixed by the government,” the UMA said, and added: “There’s a paddy procurement centre at Gogamukh to cover the farmers of North Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts. However, the centre is too far from Majuli. To go to the paddy procurement centre at Gogamukh from Majuli can never be economically viable for the farmers of the river island. For example, even if a quintal of sprayed paddy (bao dhan) costs Rs 1,500 at the procurement centre at Gogamuk, it won’t be economically viable to take such paddy there from Majuli. The middlemen are the ones who take the advantage of this situation. It’s for this, a paddy procurement centre should be set up at Majuli, whatever small it should be, so as to give the farmers here a respite.”