In spite of complaints from the farming community stating that the paddy procurement exercise across the State is going on slowly, Minister for Civil Supplies Gangula Kamalakar stated on Friday that about 26 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured so far this season and it is 8 lakh tonnes higher compared to last year by the same time.
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The Minister stated that procurement of paddy was in progress at 6,129 purchase centres set up by the Civil Supplies Department on its own and by a few other agencies. Procurement exercise was already completed in 35 centres and they were closed.
Stating that paddy would reach the procurement centres most only in November and December, the Minister said the 26 lakh tonnes of paddy worth ₹2,390 crore procured so far this season was purchased from over 4.16 lakh farmers. They were paid ₹2,154 crore already by crediting the amount to farmers’ bank accounts.
The department was all prepared to purchase as much paddy as the farmers would bring to procurement centres and the required gunny sacks, tarpaulin sheets, moisture content measuring tools, paddy cleaners and others were provided at all procurement centres.