Instructions to speed up paddy procurement as well as paddy lifting
So far 63.14 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been purchased
Rs 14059 crore has been paid to 13.19 lakh farmers for paddy purchase
DO and TO issued for lifting of more than 50 percent of the total paddy purchased so far
About 10 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been lifted
Estimate of purchasing 160 lakh metric tonnes of paddy this year
Raipur, 20 December 2024
A meeting of the Cabinet Sub-Committee was held today in the main committee room of the Chhattisgarh Vidhansabha under the chairmanship of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister Dayal Baghel. Various issues related to farmers’ interests including the paddy procurement system, lifting of paddy for custom milling, arrangement of adequate gunny bags for farmers, status of tokens were reviewed in the meeting. In the meeting, instructions were given to expedite the lifting of paddy for custom milling along with paddy procurement. Along with this, it was asked to ensure all necessary arrangements to facilitate the farmers in selling.
The meeting was attended by Cabinet Sub-Committee members Agriculture Development and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Ramvichar Netam, Forest and Climate Change and Cooperation Minister Shri Kedar Kashyap, Health and Family Welfare and 20-Point Implementation Minister Shri Shyam Bihari Jaiswal and Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Shri Tank Ram Verma.
In the meeting chaired by Food Minister Shri Dayal Das Baghel, strengthening all the necessary facilities for easy purchase of paddy from the farmers of the state was also discussed. In the meeting, necessary guidelines were given to the officers so that paddy purchase is well organized and gunny bags are easily available to the farmers. In the meeting, paddy lifting and custom milling, depositing rice in Central Pool and Chhattisgarh Civil Supplies Corporation and transportation were also discussed in detail.
It is worth noting that last year a record 144.92 lakh metric tons of paddy was purchased at the support price in Chhattisgarh. At present, it is estimated that 160 lakh metric tons of paddy will be purchased in the coming Kharif marketing year through 2058 cooperative societies and 2739 paddy procurement centers in the state.
In the meeting, the officials of the Food Department informed that under the paddy procurement mega campaign started from 14 November 2024, 63.14 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been procured so far. In lieu of paddy procurement, Rs 14058 crore has been paid to 13.19 lakh farmers of the state under the bank linking system. Along with paddy procurement, lifting of paddy for custom milling is going on. All the collectors of the state have been directed to expedite the lifting of paddy. So far, DO and TO have been issued for lifting of more than 50 percent of the total paddy procurement. Against which about 10 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been lifted by the millers so far.
Secretary of Food Department Mr. Anbalagan P, Agriculture Production Commissioner Mrs. Renu G. Pillai, Special Secretary of Finance Department Mr. Chandan Kumar, Commissioner of Cooperative Department Mr. Kuldeep Sharma, Director of Food Department Mr. Jitendra Kumar Shukla, Director of Agriculture Department Dr. Saransh Mittal, Managing Director of Markfed Mr. Ramesh Sharma, OSD of Apex Bank Mr. Avinash Kumar Srivastava, Joint Secretary of Food Department Mr. G.S. Sikarwar and other senior officers concerned were present in the meeting.
