The Civil Supplies Corporation has made online payments to the tune of ₹5,529 crore so far to farmers against procurement of paddy produced by them in the recently-concluded rabi season. The amount has been credited into the account of about 7 lakh farmers from whom the produce was procured.
According to Commissioner of Civil Supplies C.V. Anand, the Civil Supplies Corporation has already procured 36.63 lakh tonnes of paddy through 3,055 procurement centres as against the estimated production over 39 lakh tonnes in the rabi season. “The government has allotted necessary funds for paddy procurement. Initially, the government has given surety for ₹2,000 crore and for another ₹1,000 crore recently,” he explained. For the first time, farmers were paid through online with the help of Online Procurement Management System (OPMS) software to avoid the involvement of middlemen, Mr. Anand stated. In the last kharif, the corporation had procured 16.52 lakh tonnes of paddy from 3,92,787 farmers through 2,178 purchase centres and ₹2,478 crore was paid to them online. In the last rabi (2015-16) only 8.27 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured from 1,72,450 farmers through 1,282 purchase centres. Meanwhile, the State Government has issued orders allowing the Civil Supplies Corporation to avail an additional cash credit limit of ₹1,000 crore from any public sector bank to make payments to farmers and that it would stand guarantee for such loan.
