Bhubaneswar: The Group of Ministers approved the enhancement of Paddy procurement target to 77 Lakh MT from 65 Lakh MT for the ongoing kharif season.
With minimum support price of Rs 2,300 and additional input Assistance of Rs. 800 per quintal, more farmers have expressed their willingness to participate in the procurement. For the benefit of the farmers, the ministers decided to increase the target.
The decision was taken in Group of Ministers’ meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo at at Lok Seva Bhawan in the presence of Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra, Co-operation Minister Pradeep Bal Samanta, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja and other senior officials.
At the outset, Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh presented procurement status in the State. So far, 46 lakh 36 thousand 541 metric tonnes of paddy has been procured from 9 lakh 77 thousand 293 farmers. Nearly Rs 10,000 crore as MSP and Rs 3,500 crore as input assistance has already been transferred to farmers’ accounts.
This year, the interests of the farmers have been given utmost importance during procurement and necessary arrangements have been made at the mandis. Keeping in view the interest of the farmers, 3883 nodal officers have been deployed with CCTV system in the mandis. In addition, 217 enforcement squads have been constituted to keep a close watch on outside paddy vehicles.
Various complaints related to the sale of paddy including tokens, input support, MSP to farmers are being resolved expeditiously through the Command Control Centre at Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation. As many as 4 lakh 15 thousand 267 calls have been received and resolved through toll fee no. 1967.
Under the direct supervision of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, this year’s paddy procurement process has been facilitated. Singh Deo expressed that the process of paddy procurement has become more transparent and successful as Deputy Chief Ministers, ministers and senior officials are visiting the district and monitoring the process. He also suggested that early steps should be taken for the purchase of paddy in the upcoming Rabi season.
Among others, Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Principal Secretary, Co-operation Secretary, Agriculture Director, Managing Director, Civil Supplies Corporation and other senior officials were also present in the meeting.
