Farmers irked as Ranipet yet to open DPCs for paddy

Farmers in Ranipet are irked over the step motherly treatment meted to them by non-opening of Direct Purchase Centres (DPCs) despite repeated requests. While DPCs were already functioning in neighbouring Kancheepuram Tiruvallur and Tiruvnnamalai districts “and are on the verge of completing procurement of paddy, the exercise has not even started in Ranipet district,” complained farmers seeking anonymity.

Though the Collector prepared a list of places to open DPCs on December 10, there was no movement after that.

“When other districts have nearly completed the procurement exercise, we don’t know the government has not started the process. This eventually force Ranipet farmers to sell their paddy to traders for rock bottom prices,” said a farmer leader seeking anonymity.

Clear skies were the only advantage for farmers now as otherwise their harvested paddy would have started sprouting. Farmers also look askance at the stance of officials that “DPCs should only be opened on government land, when this was not the case earlier.”

When asked about the issues, Collector Baskara Pandian said, “we plan to open up to 60 DPCs within a day or two.” Asked about the delay, he said “it was due to having to calculate the number and locations (all government buildings) where DPC should be located. With DPCs in neighbouring AP having shut down we also had to ensure that the benefits of Ranipet DPCs accrued only to local farmers and not to outsiders as there are chances of AP farmers bringing their paddy to Ranipet DPCs. Also, we had to ensure that traders did enter DPCs on the sly.” He said “excess procurement in last paddy season has resulted in CBCID investigation.”