Jan. 21: The Mamata Banerjee government's plan to buy 45 lakh tonnes of paddy directly from farmers to boost food security has hit a roadblock as ruling party activists have prevented farmers loyal to the Left from selling their produce.

The procurement target was increased by over two fold compared to last year's target of 22 lakh tonnes as Mamata has plans to bring more people under the subsidised rice scheme when the National Food Security Act is introduced in the state on January 27.

Two Nadia farmers, Sushil Ghosh and Samar Ghosh in Hanskhali block, have lodged complaints with the district authorities saying they were prevented from selling paddy on January 18 when they went to a government kisan mandi.

Sources said several other farmers from other blocks in Naida also alleged that they were being prevented from selling paddy because they were CPM supporters.

Under the food security act, 6.01 crore people would get subsidised rice from the Centre. The state would give cheap rice to another 1.7 crore people. Till now, a total of 3.2 crore people in Bengal used to get subsidised rice, but from January 27 the number of beneficiaries would increase to 7.7 crore. The state has to procure 45 lakh tonnes for all the beneficiaries.

Senior government officials said the state needed more farmers to come up to sell their produce so that it could achieve the procurement target. "To procure 45 lakh tonnes of paddy, you require at least 1.5 lakh farmers to sell 30 quintals of paddy each to the government.... There are lakhs of sympathisers of Left parties in rural areas. It is not possible to meet the target by bypassing those farmers," said a senior food department official.

Jyotipriya Mallick, the food and supplies minister, said he was "not aware of this particular case. But farmers cannot be divided based on political identity."

As the elections approach, the ruling party cannot afford to be selective in terms of reaching out to farmers. Before coming to power, Trinamul used to question the faulty BPL lists of the Left government, saying the Front was selective in giving benefits to the poor. "It had left an impact in rural areas and was reflected in the results of 2011 polls when the Left parties lost their support base," said a senior state minister.

"The finance department has already sanctioned a sum of Rs 1,000 crore.... But politics at the ground level could put the entire exercise in trouble," said a minister.

The momentum for procurement has been slow, said government sources. Reports of the food and supplies department till Wednesday showed that 12.9 lakh tonnes of paddy was bought, when the state needed to procure the maximum quantum of paddy between November and January.

"The kharif crop, harvested between October and November, produces 110 lakh tonnes of 155 lakh tonnes of total paddy grown in Bengal. If we cannot buy the maximum quantum by January, we may fall short of the target as small farmers sell off their paddy in the local market even at a cheaper rate as they have to repay loans," said a senior official.

In Nadia's Hanskhali, farmer Sushil Ghosh said Trinamul Krishnaganj MLA Satyajit Biswas was to blame for the paddy sale block on Left-sympathiser farmers. Biswas denied the allegations, saying it was "conspired by the CPM to malign me before the polls. I just told the officials not take rice which has dust." He said he had told officials "to prepare a list so that they (farmers who were turned away) could be given a fresh chance before procurement is finished."

From September last year, the government started procuring paddy across the state through the West Bengal Essential Commodities Supply Corporation Limited at a rate of Rs 1,410 a quintal. If the farmer brings the paddy to a kisan mandi, he gets Rs 15 more for each quintal as the state wants to promote the rural markets for such direct sale.

Sushil said when he went to the mandi with 18 quintals of paddy on January 18, some Trinamul activists did not let him enter the market. Sushil said he somehow managed to speak to the procurement officer, who told him his paddy could not be bought.

Sushil, who is a CPM member in the Hanshkhali panchayat samiti, said he had taken paddy to the mandi after cleaning it. "First of all, I was not allowed to enter. Second, none of my sacks was opened and examined. I am not a dishonest person to contaminate my rice with dust."