Odisha government has made extensive preparations for the purchase of paddy from farmers in the current Rabi season.
The State-level Paddy Procurement Committee meeting was held in the Second Floor Conference Hall of Lok Seva Bhawan under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja.
The concerned District Collectors and Civil Supply Officers attended through video conferencing, while Principal Secretary, Food Supply and Consumer Welfare, Sanjay Kumar Singh outlined issues for discussion.
At the outset, Singh said that in the last Kharif season, about 73.45 LMT of paddy was procured from nearly 16 lakh 60 thousand farmers. For this, Rs 16,853 crore was paid to the farmers as MSP and Rs 5,862 crore as input assistance.
Similarly, the procurement of paddy for the current Rabi season will begin from May 1 to June 30. It was decided in the meeting to target procurement of 14 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in the current season. For this, about 3 lakh 37 thousand farmers have registered. This year, procurement will be made in 20 districts including newly added three districts of Kandhamal, Sundargarh and Bhadrak. A total of 965 primary agricultural cooperative societies and 200 SHGs have also joined this process.
Chief Secy Ahuja has directed the concerned collectors to ensure that eligible farmers are not deprived of paddy procurement. He also commended the token being provided to farmers by validating paddy crop growing areas through satellite imagery technology by ORSAC. He also directed to immediate deployment of nodal officers and supervisors for mandis. Similarly, it was discussed in the meeting that all facilities will be available for farmers at the mandis.
Like the Kharif season, Rs 3100 per quintal, including Rs 2300 as MSP and Rs 800 as input assistance,e will be directly disbursed to the farmer’s account within 48 hours of paddy procurement. In addition, complaints can be made through Toll-free No. 1967 regarding paddy purchase. Each mandi will be equipped with CCTV, along each vehicle carrying paddy from the Mandi to the Mill must have a Vehicle Tracking System. District Collectors have been instructed to make special arrangements given the unseasonal rains and heatwave to protect paddy and ensure the lifting of paddy on the same day. Similarly, special squads will be deployed at bordering districts to keep an eye on outside vehicles carrying paddy during procurement. Odisha State Civil Supply Corporation Managing Director Shri K. Sudarshan Chakravarthy presented all such preparations during the discussion.
Among others, Mission Shakti Commissioner-cum-Secretary Shalini Pandit, Transport Commissioner Amitabh Thakur, Agriculture and Food Production Director Shubham Saxena, senior officers from Food Corporation of India and Odisha State Supply Corporation and various departmental officers were present in the meeting.
