KOLKATA, 10 JAN: The state government's decision to do away with middlemen for selling paddy to the rice mills has, ironically enough, hit the farmers hard, many of whom can't sell their produce, the mills being far away from their villages, according to information reaching the Trinamul leadership. The “hurry” in which the new system was introduced is being blamed for the plight of the farmers, though the state government's move is aimed at helping the farmers get better price of their produce that is eaten up by middlemen. Trinamul sources said because of the undue haste in abolishing the middlemen the proper infrastructure for direct sale of paddy by the farmers to the rice mills couldn't be put in place. The problem has been compounded by the fact barring Burdwan and Hooghly most of the districts lack adequate number of rice mills. However, state food and supply minister Jyotipriya Mullick said the Congress and the CPI-M are deliberately “misleading" the people. The support price for paddy, which stands at Rs 1,080, was fixed by the Prime Minister and Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee during Karif season. Before the Trinamul came to power, there were only 1,018 rice mills in the state, of which 300 are closed. “After coming to power, we have built 20 rice mills in Junglemahal and these are procuring rice from the farmers," said the minister. He admitted that due to FCI's non co-operation, initially there was problem in procurement of rice, but "now we are holding camps in all districts and BENFED, CONFED, NAFED are procuring rice from the farmers." Mr Mullick said: "The Congress leaders are not aware that 18 camps have been held in Murshidabad district on Wednesday and 28,000 metric ton of paddy were procured." The minister also said that his department would distribute leaflets in the districts stating the support price fixed by the Centre.