Make timely payments to farmers and transport the procured paddy soon: Chief Minister Dr. Yadav

bhopal: Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav has said that arrangements should be made to ensure payment to the farmers whose paddy has been procured in the shortest possible time. The process should be simplified and the procurement amount should be paid within three to four days. He said that in view of the weather, the paddy lying in the open should be transported as soon as possible and it should be protected from rain. He said that even if the procured paddy is kept in the open in the godown premises, it should be kept inside as soon as possible. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav was reviewing paddy production at Samatva Bhawan (Chief Minister’s residence) on Friday. Cooperative Minister Shri Vishwas Kailash Sarang, Farmer Welfare and Agriculture Development Minister Shri Edal Singh Kanshana, Additional Chief Secretary Dr. Rajesh Rajoura, Additional Chief Secretary and Agriculture Production Commissioner Shri Mohammad Suleman, Additional Chief Secretary Cooperation Shri Ashok Barnwal, Principal Secretary Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Smt. Rashmi Arun Shami and other senior officers were present in the meeting.

Make immediate arrangements to protect paddy from rain Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that the cooperative societies in which paddy is kept under the open sky, should immediately cover the paddy lying in the open with tarpaulin etc. to protect the procured paddy from rain in view of the possibility of bad weather. He asked the departmental officials to request the farmers to wait for a few days or bring their paddy for procurement only when the weather is clear. If the weather remains bad for a long time, the government will also consider extending the fixed period of paddy procurement. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav asked the officials to direct the paddy millers to also get their paddy lifted as soon as possible. He asked the officials of the Civil Supplies Corporation to immediately transport the procured paddy and take it to a safe place and make arrangements as per the need.

Try to give the procured paddy to the millers Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that the procurement process should be simplified so that paddy of maximum farmers can be procured by the stipulated time limit. Efforts should be made to give maximum quantity of paddy procured from farmers to millers only, this will save time, money and labour spent on the process of paddy milling.

For transporting paddy, maximum number of vehicles should be deployed through contracted transporters and if necessary, other transporters/vehicles should be acquired for transporting paddy. Paddy stored in the open at godown level procurement centre should be stacked in the godown through co-operative societies. Approval letter should be issued quickly for prompt payment to farmers selling paddy on support price. Paddy should be procured as per FAQ norms by Government of India, for monitoring of which staff of other departments should also be deployed. Principal Secretary Food and Civil Supplies informed that this year 7.72 lakh farmers have registered for paddy procurement, which is more than last year 2023-24 (7.27 lakh). This year 1393 paddy procurement centers have been set up in the state, in which 22.86 lakh metric paddy has been procured so far. So far 3.48 lakh farmers have sold their paddy. Arrangements are being made to make payment to the farmers from whom procurement has been done in minimum time.

Till 26 December, 45 lakh metric tonnes of paddy common (grade A category) has been procured. The farmers from whom paddy has been procured have been paid Rs 1,961 crore as procurement price. There is no shortage of gunny bags in the state. Transportation and storage of procured paddy is also being done properly. There are a total of 674 contracted millers in the state. Till now, 3.36 lakh metric tonnes of procured paddy has been lifted by them. Farmers are being informed through SMS that paddy procurement will be postponed on 30th, 31st December and 1st January. The last date for paddy procurement has been extended from 20th January to 23rd January. The slots of farmers booked for paddy sale have been extended by 5 days. They do not need to book slots again.