Free hand to private cotton traders

cotton farmers protesting with their damaged crop in Adilabad 

This Kharif season also the state government has given a free hand to the private traders to purchase cotton from the farmers in the Telangana. The farmers do not follow any rules unlike Cotton Corporation of India (CCI).

The marketing department has introduced bar-coded identity cards to cotton farmers and made online payments compulsory for the CCI from this Kharif to curb irregularities.

But the rules regarding online payments, which can be easily monitored, do not apply to private cotton traders.

Private cotton traders are need not to pay the amount to the farmers online for the cotton purchases and the online payments rule will be applied only to the CCI for its purchases from the farmers.

The bar-coded cards have the ‘Real Time Gross Settlement’ (RTGS) and details of farmers, date on their land and bank accounts and other particulars. There was no rule that farmers take their cotton produce directly to the market yard and weigh the produce before dumping it with private traders of ginning and pressing factories.

The entry of the middlemen in cotton purchases is certain now, as the rules have been relaxed for private cotton traders.

Marketing assistant director T. Srinivas said private cotton traders need not to follow the rules in cotton purchases as CCI does and added that market yard officials will issue online ‘Thakatti’( bill) for cotton purchases.

During the season last year, it was found that that private traders and owner of the cotton ginning and pressing had purchased the cotton from the farmers of the Adilabad district and Maharashtra at low prices and sold the same to the CCI for minimum support price, causing huge loss to the farmers.

Cotton commission agents purchased cotton from the farmers at low price sold hundreds of quintals on benami names to the CCI. Cotton traders offer Rs 100- 200 more than MSP Rs 4,100 being offering by the CCI which will start purchases probably from October10.

There were allegations that Market committee officials have colluded with the private traders, cotton commission agents and owner of private ginning and pressing factories to prepare ground for irregularities.