By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 18 Sep: Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Minister Rekha Arya today chaired a review meeting on paddy procurement during the ongoing Kharif season. The upcoming Kharif Procurement Season 2023-24 will start from 1 October. The Union Government has fixed the target of paddy procurement for the upcoming season at 8.30 lakh Metric Tonnes. In order to ensure maximum possible procurement in the state, the minister also directed the officials to set up 17 additional paddy procurement centres. It was decided at the meeting to open a total of 875 Paddy Procurement Centres in Uttarakhand.
Rekha Arya instructed the officers that the farmers should not face any undue inconvenience during the procurement process of paddy. She directed them to ensure that the farmers get the payment within 72 hours of the sale.
In the meeting, the farmers were informed that the permissible Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy fixed by the Union Government is Rs 2183 per quintal for common paddy and Rs 2203 per quintal for A grade Paddy, which is Rs 143 higher than the MSP of the previous season. Apart from this, a total time period of 3 months has been fixed by the Union Government beginning from 1 October till 31 December, 2023, as the Kharif Procurement Session, 2023-24. It was also stated that the Government of India has set a paddy procurement target of 8.30 lakh metric tonnes for the state.
In Uttarakhand, the Food & Civil Supplies Department, Uttarakhand State Cooperative Union Ltd, NCCF, UPCU, UCCF and Kachcha commission agents have been designated as purchasing agencies, and they will operate through 875 procurement centres.
It was also stressed that, in the upcoming Kharif season, apart from the paddy, Mandua (Finger Millet or Ragi) would also be procured by the state government. The Government of India has set a purchasing target of 0.100 lakh metric tonnes for the state and, for this, the Minimum Support Price of has been fixed at Rs 3846 per quintal, which is Rs 268 per quintal more than the last session. Mandua will be purchased through the purchasing centres to be operated by Uttarakhand State Cooperative Union Limited in the hill districts. In the previous session, on pilot basis, Mandua was distributed on the basis of 1 kg per card only to the beneficiaries of National Food Security Scheme of Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts. In the upcoming season, Mandua will be distributed to the beneficiaries of National Food Security Scheme in all the districts in the upcoming session.
Arya issued instructions to the purchasing organisations to compulsorily complete all the formalities related to paddy purchase by 25 September and to operate the purchasing centres properly from 1 October on a mandatory basis. The Minister further directed the agencies to pay the minimum support price of farmers’ produce in their bank accounts online within 72 hours. The Minister stated that paddy should be purchased after registration of all the farmers and verification of land records. Also, clear instructions were given that farmers should not face any difficulties in the upcoming Kharif procurement season 2023-24.
The Minister instructed the Mandi Council to provide all the facilities to the farmers at the purchasing centres within stipulated time and the departmental officers are to ensure adequate funds and arrangement of sacks for the purchasing season.
Principal Secretary, Food & Civil Supplies L Fanai, Secretary, Cooperatives, BVR Purushottam, Registrar, Cooperatives, Alok Pandey, Additional Secretary, Food, Ruchi Mohan Rayal, Additional Commissioner PS Pangti, Chief Marketing Officer, Dr MS Visen, Divisional Food Controller, Kumaon Division, were present at the meeting besides representatives of the agencies designated for procurement and farmers.
