Hyderabad: The Preparations for Rabi season Paddy purchase Goal 36 Lakh Metric Tons of Paddy purchase Starting from first week of April State wide 3259 purchase centres 9 crore gunny bags available Paddy Allotment only on guarantee Review meeting on Rabi action plan Commissioner for Civil Supplies
The Commissioner for Civil Supplies C.V. Anand said that all arrangements are been made for purchasing paddy from farmers in the coming Rabi season which starts from next month. He suggested officials to be very cautious in this matter as it is dealing with lakhs of farmers. Commissioner said all necessary actions to be taken to see that farmers should not face any difficulty in selling their paddy at Minimum Support Price. The Commissioner on held a review meeting with Officials on Rabi Paddy Procurement on Friday at Civil Supplies Bhavan. A wall poster was released on this occasion to spread awareness among farmers on Minimum Support Price and Online transactions.
The Commissioner Anand said that Civil Supplies Department initially decided to purchase 37 lakh metric ton paddies. In the months of April 12.74 LMT, May 18.20 LMT, June 5.46 LMT of paddy yield is expected. For this 3259 Paddy Purchase Centres (PPC’s) are been arranged said Commissioner C.V. Anand. IKP’s – 1081, PACS (Primary Agricultural Co-operative Societies) – 1987 and others – 191 will be maintained. Commissioner advised officials to arrange PPC’s in reachable distance to farmers. Commissioner ordered officials to take necessary action in arranging additional purchase centres if required immediately.
Basic facilities at purchase centres: Basic requirements like Humidity checking machines, Paddy cleaners, Winnowing Machines, Moisture Metres, Drinking Water, Toilets etc. should be kept available at the centres.
Allotment according to the capacity: Minimum Support Price should be compulsorily to be paid to farmers. MSP for Ordinary paddy is Rs. 1550, Grade ‘A’ paddy is Rs. 1590. Awareness in farmers should be made to get paddy to PPC’s according to the standards of Central government.
Joint Collectors should consult rice millers district wise and allotment of paddy be made according to the capacity of the mills.
Allotment should be made according to the capacity of the mill. Paddy allotment 32 MT mill be allotted 3000 MTs, 40 MT – 4000 MTs, 50 MT – 5000 MTs, 60 MT – 6000 MTs, more than 60 MT – 8000 MTs paddy will be allotted. In any condition not more than 8000 MTs paddy will be allotted to any mill. Commissioner ordered millers should submit Custom Milling Rice (CMR) before September 30. In any case if CMR is submitted after due date no milling charges will be paid. Millers who are black listed and booked under criminal case, 6A case from this year 1st January will not be allotted paddy.
On Guarantee only: Commissioner ordered officials on paddy allotment to millers based on requisitions from District Rice Millers Association and guarantee from two millers who are financially strong. In any case if CMR is not submitted to government before due date it should be recovered from the two guarantee millers. If excess due is there then it should be collected from milling / transport charges paid to District Rice Millers Association.
Gunny bags are kept ready:
Officials should be cautious about gunny bags. Keeping in view of paddy yield, district wise gunny bags are been issued priority based. 9.30 crores of gunny bags may be needed for purchase of paddy, keeping these in view necessary arrangements should be made said Commissioner. He warned that serious action would be taken against PPC and concerned officials if the gunny bags are not used according to standards or misused.
Special focus on Storage Space:
In the view of high paddy yield this year Commissioner suggested to keep special focus on storage space. Last year, over the expectation paddy yield was very high, due shortage of storage space several problems evolved. Keeping this in view for this year Rabi season Commissioner C.V. Anand requested FCI official to keep available storage for space initially for 15 Lakh metric tons paddy to be stored and also alerted district officials to be cautious.
Payments to farmers accounts through online:
From 2016-17 Kharif season paddy purchase is done through online by Online Procurement Management System (OPMS) and payments were made directly to farmer’s accounts by online with goal of eliminating middlemen involvement. Till now in last Kharif, Rabi and this Kharif season 72 Lakh metric tons of paddy is purchased from 15 lakh farmers directly and payments to their respective accounts were made within 4 days directly. This policy is very fruitful to farmers. Commissioner said all the transactions like how much paddy is purchased, what extent is rejected, payments etc should registered daily.
Paddy Procurement Committees:
Joint Collector as Chairman Paddy Committees to be established in district level. In this committee district level officials from Agriculture, Marketing, Civil Supplies, Transport, DRDA, ITDA, FCI, SWC, CWC. This committee will inspect paddy purchase centres, MSP for farmers and other requirements. A Control Room should be established to monitor paddy transportation, MSP for farmers and other queries.
Focus on FCI dues:
Commissioner Sri C.V. Anand said that district wise Joint Collectors should be more focused on clearing dues from FCI officials under different sections like paddy, CMR transport charges, gunny bags depreciation, RD cess, society commission, storage, maintenance charges etc. He suggested officials to co-ordinate with FCI Regional Managers in clearing these dues.
Toll Free Number for complaints and enquiry:
For enquiries and queries pertaining farmers problems, MSP complaints can all on Civil Supplies Toll Free Number 180042500333 and 1967. Commissioner ordered officials to establish district wise toll free numbers also.
