Ghaziabad: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait held a presser on the Ghazipur border between New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. Alleging fraud in wheat procurement in Uttar Pradesh, the farmer leader claimed that only eight per cent of the farmers across India get the benefit of Minimum Support Prices (MSP). Out of eight per cent, 40 per cent of farmers are fake who misappropriate MSP along with corrupt government officials, nodal agencies and middlemen, he said.
The fraud of terming Rampur number one in the wheat procurement has been exposed. The scam of purchasing wheat and paddy in Uttar Pradesh is managed by an organized gang. The corrupt millers, middlemen and government officials have looted the MSP in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur, he added. "In Rampur, the Central and state agencies have made purchases out of a record 26,391 farmers by showing about 11,000 fake farmers," he said.
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Tikait alleged that 11,000 farmers were registered by showing fake sharecroppers. About 10 lakh quintals of wheat were bought for Rs 1,500 to 1,600 and it was later sold at the government rate of Rs 1,975. He also alleged that farmers are looted in a planned manner.
"Purchasing centres are given to middlemen and fake registrations of farmers' relatives and acquaintances are done. The bank passbooks of these fake farmers are confiscated by corrupt officials. Mobile numbers are purchased in bulk from the mobile agency. After receiving an OTP, these numbers are discarded. The middlemen get them verified from the tehsil and they withdraw the money from farmers' accounts with the help of bank manager," he added.
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Rakesh Tikait said that according to reports, a commission of about Rs 1.5 billion, is generated in a season. He also stated that the BKU always demanded to make a law on Minimum Support Price as the fraud will be checked as soon as a law is made to guarantee purchase on MSP.
"BKU and Samyukt Kisan Morcha also demand a high-level inquiry by the CBI in every district of Uttar Pradesh to unearth scam of billions of rupees. A case should be registered against the people involved in the probe and the name of the public representatives involved in this scam should also be made public," Tikait stated.
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He also warned the government of holding a mass agitation against the wheat procurement scam in every district by exposing the anti-farmer face of the government. Notably, Rakesh Tikait had said that the farmers' agitation will continue until the three agricultural laws are not repealed. He also announced to launch a big movement in Lucknow by saying that the farmers of UP are reeling under the state government's atrocities.
