Cotton mandies lying defunct

Expressbuzz, Nov 23, 2008

BHAWANIPATNA: Cotton mandies in Kalahandi are in a shambles due to lack of maintenance and this has directly affected marketing of the cotton crop. This year, cotton was grown in 19,349 hectares of land in Kalahandi and a yield of 1,90,000 quintal is expected. At present, cotton plucking is in full swing and some farmers are ready to sell their produce.

It was decided by the district administration to procure cotton through mandies of the regulated marketing committees (RMCs). In 2002 under Integrated Cotton Development Programme, cotton bazaars were created at Karlapada and Utkela. For Karlapada cotton bazaar, there was an investment of Rs 1.17 crore and for Utkela, it was Rs 85 lakh. At these cotton bazaars (mandies), there were infrastructure facilities like cotton godowns, cotton drying shed, fire extinguishing system, rest sheds for cotton farmers and traders, information centre for cotton growers equipped with computer and Internet facilities and weighing machines.

However, after four years of operation of these mandies, procurement was shifted to village-level, thus making these units useless. Now these mandies are dilapidated.

At Karlapada cotton bazaar, the weighing machines are broken, fire fighting system non-existent, rest sheds non-functional, no electricity and there are no computers. The RMC secretary, Bhawanipatna, informed that for security reasons, computers have been shifted to Bhawanipatna. The mandi opened for procurement on November 18 but only a few farmers had come to sell their produce. But traders did not participate in the auction and only 116 bags of cotton were purchased by the Cotton Corporation of India.

Cotton farmers alleged that the cotton bazaar at Karlapada is dilapidated due to negligence of the RMC. “The RMC, although gets one per cent on the cotton transaction as fees, it is not investing for maintainance or improvement of the bazaar,” a farmer alleged.