The State Government has asked paddy farmers not to worry about procurement and assured them of taking all steps to prevent any adverse impact on disposal of their produce due to untimely rains.
Minister for Civil Supplies Gangula Kamalakar, who reviewed the procurement exercise at a high-level official meeting here on Tuesday, warned the millers against reduction of paddy weight in the name of chaff and moisture beyond the prescribed level. He stated that about 20.25 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured so far against over 60 lakh tonnes planned to be procured.
The Minister discussed paddy soaked in untimely rains in several districts and the concerns of the farming community over its disposal at the procurement centres. He instructed the administration of districts not to allow piling up of paddy stocks at procurement centres and shift it to allotted mills from time to time and upload the details in the online procurement management system for clearing the payment.
He told the authorities to arrange required number of tarpaulin sheets at all procurement centres and requested the farmers to dry the paddy that had become wet in untimely rain before getting it to the procurement centre. With the forecast of more untimely rains over the next few days, the minister asked the officials to take measures so that no loss occurred to farmers.
Alleging that the Centre had not given even one new gunny sacks to the State even after over a month since the commencement of procurement exercise, the minister said the State Government on its own had arranged 9.97 crore bags and used 4.65 crore bags for procurement so far.
Stating that procurement exercise was being speeded up to purchase at least two lakh tonnes of paddy every day, Mr. Kamalakar said of the 6,832 procurement centres proposed, 6,369 were opened so far and 20.25 lakh tonnes of paddy worth ₹3,961crore was purchased from over 3.18 lakh farmers. Of the purchased paddy, 19.2 lakh tonnes was already shifted to mills for processing.
The Minister warned the millers against reducing weight of paddy recorded at procurement centres in the name of chaff or moisture as it was not only illegal but also causes loss to farmers. He instructed the District Collectors and Additional Collectors to keep vigil in the matter.
