Resentment among the farmers of Damoh whose payment of Rs 127 crore against the purchase of paddy has been stopped may not bode well for the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections. After the warehouse rejected the paddy, saying that it was of poor quality, collector Neeraj Singh decided to return the produce to the farmers.
The collector’s decision has spawned anger among the farmers. Consequently, Congress MLA Rahul Lodhi met Chief Minister Kamal Nath over the issue on Saturday and told him that if the farmers were deprived of payment, they would incur a heavy loss. This would become an issue during the elections, Lodhi said. According to reports, efforts to upgrade the quality of the paddy machines came to naught.
There were complaints that soil was mixed with the upgraded paddy, Lodhi said, adding that the farmers being deprived of payment were facing problems, so the matter was brought to the notice of the Chief Minister.
The administration’s decision to return the purchased paddy to farmers was wrong, Lodhi said.
