Farmers’ collective demands probe into irregularities in Regulated Market Committees in Puducherry

The Bangaru Vaickal Neeradhara Koottamaippu, a farmers’ collective and water users’ association has urged the Puducherry Government to order a probe into the alleged irregularities in the Regulated Market Committees in Puducherry.

In a letter addressed to Lt. Governor K. Kailashnathan, the association president V. Chandrasekhar alleged that nearly ₹2 crore due to farmers for produce sold through Regulated Market Committees had remained unpaid for the past five months, raising serious concerns.

He claimed sales were carried out through the market committees at Madukarai, Koonichampet and the eNAM-linked committee at Thattanchavady. But payments were not credited to the bank accounts of farmers on time.

Mr. Chandrasekhar blamed administrative negligence and corruption for the present crisis and said that farmers were forced to resort to protests over delay in payment. He said that ₹40 lakh remained pending in Thattanchavady market committee, while Madukarai and Koonichampet each had dues of about ₹75 lakh.

A show-cause notice was also issued to the supervisors of three market yards asking why action should not be taken against them for the unpaid dues. However, no action was taken so far.

The revenue collection had also declined from ₹1.6 crore annually to less than ₹70 lakh. This has affected the committee’s ability to pay staff salaries from its own revenue, forcing the government to provide grant-in-aid, he said.

The collective urged the Government to order a vigilance probe into the irregularities and initiate disciplinary action against the concerned staff.