In a bid to further consolidate her farmer-friendly image ahead of the crucial panchayat polls, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday disbursed `45 lakhs from the chief minister’s relief funds among over 162 farmers of Burdwan as price for their paddy that they had sold to a rice mill which had not made the payment. Sources said that this was an unprecedented instance when such a payment was made.
Nearly 169 farmers of Manteswar block in Burdwan had sold paddy to a cooperative but they had not received full payments. “These farmers had sold their paddy to a rice mill which did not make the payments. They cheated these farmers as well as the government, which had made the payment. The government will take strong legal action against it. These farmers who were in a dire straits due to non-payment approached us. To bail them out, I decided to pay them a total of `45 lakhs from the chief minister’s relief fund although it is nearly depleted. I believe that farmers are our assets and pride,” Ms Banerjee said.
Agriculture minister Malay Ghatak, food minister Jyotipriya Mullick, law minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, MP Sudip Banerjee and chief secretary Sanjay Mitra were also present on the occasion.
Political observers pointed out that the chief minister’s gesture ahead of the panchayat polls would send a positive message in rural Bengal. “Remember, there had been several cases of farmers suicide in the same Burdwan district because of their failure to sell their crop. By doling out payments to farmers who were shortchanged by some unscrupulous rice mill owner, the chief minister has sent a loud and clear message that she is the saviour of the farmers,” a political observer said.
In 2012, over 500 farmers from 14 villages under the Jamna gram panchayat in Manteswar had sold paddy through the Trinamul Congress-dominated Jamna Agricultural Co-operative Society to a rice mill. A large number of farmers were paid in full. However, after making 50 per cent payments to nearly 169 farmers, the rice mill said it had no funds. Today 162 of them were given cheques while the remaining seven who could not come to the city will get the cheque through district administration. These farmers had been agitating for the past several months. In October they had even organised a hunger strike outside the BDO office. In January they had met the chief minister when she had visited Burdwan and sought her intervention.