Punjab: Khaira alleges distress sale of paddy, seeks CBI probe

The Congress MLA from Bholath, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, on Wednesday wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah, demanding a CBI probe into the alleged distress sale of paddy by farmers during the recently concluded procurement season in Punjab.

“I want to bring to your notice the well-planned and organised exploitation of farmers of Punjab by the CM Bhagwant Mann-led govt amounting to more than Rs 5,000 crore, during the just concluded paddy procurement season,” wrote Khaira, who is also chairman of All India Kisan Congress.

He added that like previous years, Centre released Rs 43,000 crore as cash credit limit (CCL) to Punjab in Sep 2024 to make arrangements for the procurement of approximately 185 lakh metric tonnes of expected paddy crop in the mandis of Punjab. He said payment was supposed to be transferred directly into the accounts of farmers at the fixed MSP rate of Rs 2,320 per quintal. “Punjab govt spread a word amongst the farmers that paddy stock and shelled rice of the previous season 2023-24 had not been lifted by the Centre from godowns, hence smooth procurement at full MSP rates of the paddy crop will not be possible.

The state procurement agencies also cited 17% moisture content of paddy as an impediment to paying farmers full MSP of Rs 2,320 per quintal. As a result of this scare, farmers were forced to sell their paddy crop at a distress sale,” said Khaira.He claimed that it forced farmers across Punjab to sell paddy at much lower rates of Rs 150 to 500 per quintal than the fixed MSP of Rs 2,320. “If an agency like CBI inquires into this scandal, tens of thousands of farmers will provide temporary sale slips given to them by their respective commission agents wherein the actual distress sale ranging between Rs 150-500 is mentioned against the actual total weight of their paddy crop,” he added

This article was been republished from The Times of India.