The Bengal government has decided to introduce mobile camps in remote areas to collect paddy from farmers to remove the bottlenecks in carrying the produce to government procurement centres because of lack of communication facilities.

The move is seen as a desperate attempt by the government to reach out to farmers living in remote areas ahead of next year’s panchayat polls.

“Many farmers living at far-off villages cannot reach government procurement centres because of transportation issues and are forced to go for the distress sale of their produce. The mobile camps will help farmers secure proper prices for their produce,” said a senior food and supplies department official.

Sources said officials in districts had already spotted the remote pockets under their jurisdiction and set up multiple teams to visit such places and buy paddy through the procurement season. The farmers who will register their names at the procurement centres will be able to sell off their produce at the mobile camps.

The sources also said the move had been taken to reach out to a maximum of the 72 lakh-odd farmers across Bengal ahead of the panchayat polls scheduled for early next year.

“There is a grievance over non-availability of employment opportunities under the 100-day job scheme in rural areas. In a situation like this, the procurement system has to be flawless. The ruling establishment is laying stress on the procurement system as farmers hold the key to electoral success in rural Bengal,” said a source.

According to the plan, the government would inform the farmers through local gram panchayats as to when and where the mobile camps would be available. The panchayat concerned and officials of the food and supplies department would make a list of the farmers, who would sell their produce at the mobile camps on specific dates based on the registration done at the procurement centres.

Each of the districts has to run at least a mobile camp on a working day once the paddy procurement process starts from November 15. The government has also introduced a new online system to enable farmers to fix a date convenient for them to sell their paddy at the procurement centres to secure the minimum support price MSP).

A section of the officials has said the plan sounds fine on paper, but the government has to fix the actual problem of farmers not getting an earlier date to sell their produce. “If the government cannot ensure an earlier date, the marginal farmers — who are about 80 per cent of the 72 lakh-odd farmers — will not be able to hold back their produce. Even the mobile camps will not be able to help them,” said an official.

To get rid of the problem, the sources said, the state has to increase the number of procurement centres.