Amid charges of being anti-Nafed leveled by none other than the Chairman of NAFED Mr V R Patel, one of the Directors of NAFED govt nominee Ashok Thakur has claimed that only NAFED can protect the interests of farmers and consumers.
Patel has accused Thakur of weakening the case of bail-out package currently being considered at a high-level in the govt. Thakur is of the view that bail-out package should be given only if Nafed works out a fool-proof system in which the fund is not diverted as happened in the past.
Elaborating the role Nafed plays for the benefits of farmers Nafed Director said at the time when farmers are in pressure to sell their produce at a low rate only NAFED gets them fair price by buying their produce at Minimum Support price.
Thakur also asserted that last year at the time of crisis Nafed purchased onion directly from the farmers and provided them to people at the rate of 35 to 40 kg through the outlets of Mother Dairy and DMS.
On the issue of lentils, he said this year Nafed plans to buy 50 thousand metric tonne pulses directly from the farmers. Nafed has curbed the interference of middlemen and is making every effort to double the income of farmers, he added.