West Bengal:Malda district admin warns stern action against ‘dholta’ in rice procurement camps

By Avijit Roy

In a significant move to protect farmers from exploitation during the rice procurement process, the district administration has issued a stern warning against the practice of demanding “dholta” (a form of discount) during the sale of rice at support prices. District Magistrate Nitin Singhania made it clear that any rice mill authorities or purchase officers caught taking “dholta” from farmers will face severe disciplinary action, including the cancellation of mill licenses and suspension of the concerned officials.

“Dholta” refers to the presence of minimal husk in the rice, which does not contain any edible grain. Some unscrupulous individuals have been using this as an excuse to take additional rice from farmers, thereby unfairly increasing the quantity than paid for. Singhania emphasised that this practice would not be tolerated and any instances of it would lead to immediate penalties.

The district administration is currently running 35 camps across Malda to buy rice from farmers at a support price of Rs 2,320 per quintal.

The state government has partnered with 62 cooperative societies, 42 self-help groups and 11 farmers’ clubs to ensure a smooth procurement process. Farmers are only required to bring their identification documents and payments are directly transferred to their bank accounts.

“This year, the district has set a target to procure 360,000 metric tons of rice. The initiative aims to ensure fair treatment for farmers, while any incidents of “dholta” will be closely monitored, with the warning that strict action will be taken against any violations,” said Singhania.

In one of such cases found in Gazole crop procurement centre (CPC), the purchase officer has been transferred and the rice mill involved has been removed from the CPC by cutting off the slots of procurement.

This article has been republished from The Millennium Post.