Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has instructed to start the purchase paddy from first of October. He instructed that by September 25 all purchase centres should have computerized, weigh balances and other necessary arrangements and purchase of paddy should be online. Chief Minister also released a sum of Rs. 50 crore to cooperative department so that paddy farmers get paddy price of their produce on time.
Addressing a meeting on Kharif purchase season 2018-19 with senior officials of the concerned departments at his official residence on Friday, Chief Minister instructed that farmers should not face any difficulty at the purchase centres and this should be ensured that farmers get the price of paddy produce immediately.
Chief Minister said that a target of ten lakh tonne of paddy purchase should be fixed. He also asked for increasing the number of purchase centres as compared to last year in Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar. He said that online system of paddy purchase will help farmers get their payment early. He said that it should be ensured that farmers get paddy price within three days. He also instructed that a list of farmers be prepared without any delay and start of registration of farmers should start from August 1, 2018.
Principal Secretary Food Grains Anand Vardhan informed the Chief Minister that five agencies have been named for the purchase of paddy for the Kharif purchase season-2018-19. These are Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department (marketing branch), Uttarakhand State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited, National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF), Uttar Pradesh Consumers Cooperative Federation Limited and National Federation of Farmers’ Procurement, Processing and Retailing Cooperatives of India Ltd, (NACOF).
He said that a total of 158 purchase centres have been set up in Garhwal and Kumaon regions. On the instructions of Chief Minister, the number of purchase centres in Udham Singh Nagar have been increased from 127 to 140 while the number of purchase centres in Haridwar have been increased from 13 to 20. He informed that a software has been developed for the purchase and payment of paddy to the farmers and an amount of Rs.1770 per quintal has been fixed as paddy price.
Secretary R. Meenakshi Sundram, D. Senthil Pandian, RFC Garhwal Chander Singh, RFC, Kumaon Lalit Mohan Rayal, Managing Director, Mandi, DheeraJ Singh Garbyal, MD, USF, Era Upretai, Additional District Magistrate Udham Singh Nagar Jagdish Chander Kandpal, officials of food and supply department and representatives of purchase agencies were present in the meeting.
