Kharif Paddy Procurement: Seal Borders, Ensure Local Farmers Sell Grains In Odisha, Directs CM

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of paddy harvest in Kharif season, Odisha government led by CM Mohan Charan Majhi held an important meeting on Tuesday regarding paddy procurement.

At the meeting, Majhi stressed that procurement process of grains will modernised and special attention be given to all election promises.

Similarly, focus should be laid to prevent farmers from outside the state from coming and selling their paddy in Odisha market, the CM added.

There will be one authorized officer in each mandi at the time of purchase of grain. Zones will be formed with multiple paddy mandis and each zone will have one supervisor, sources said.

Officers of supply, cooperatives, police, and district administration will be in charge of procurement. Panchayati Raj department officials will also be engaged if necessary. All decisions regarding tokens can be taken by the Collector.

Besides, each minister will be in charge of two to three districts to monitor the process, sources added.

The Chief Minister has directed district magistrates to ensure that irregularity, corruption and favoritism in the collection of grain must be stopped.

The CM mentioned that for the first time, additional Rs 800 is being paid on the minimum cost of paddy for which there is great enthusiasm among farmers.

Therefore, every minister will take responsibility as supervisor of one or two districts so that the process of grain collection is completely transparent. They will act as One-Point-Contact for the Government, the CM noted.

The Chief Minister said that 83.16% of the total registered farmers are small farmers. It is the responsibility of the district magistrates to ensure that they can sell their paddy without any problems.

He advised the district officials to give priority to small farmers in the collection of grain.

Similarly, small farmers do not get specific information about the duration of the token. Therefore, CM Majhi advised collectors to extend the duration of their tokens.

He advised to inform them frequently in this regard especially on Whats App group of farmers. The Chief Minister also ordered to ensure complete transparency in grain testing and hold the market management officials accountable for determining the quality of grain.

According to decision at the meeting, there will be one mandi management officer in each mandi and there will be a supervisor for every four or five mandis.

Along with this, monitoring of all the programmes in Mandis will be done through a centralised dashboard. Along with this, the system of grain collection will be monitored with the help of Quality Council Of India.

It was revealed that due to the increase in price of paddy in the state, there is a possibility of paddy coming to Odishia from other states. So the District Magistrates have made arrangements for deployment of Enforcement Squad in all the border areas.

Besides, 24-hour monitoring of highways connecting bordering states through CCTV or smart cameras will be ensured.

Similarly, Automatic Grain Analyzer will be arranged in 2,000 large mandis to determine the quality of grain while Manual Grain Analyzer will also be arranged in small mandis. Quality Analyst and Quality Supervisor will be employed at each grain collection center to inspect and certify the grain, said sources.

Deputy Chief Ministers Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, Minister of Revenue and Disaster Management Suresh Pujari, Minister of Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Krushna Chandra Patra, Minister of Law Prithviraj Harichandan, Minister for Cooperative Pradeep Bal Samanta were present at the meeting.

Besides, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Nikunja Bihari Dhal, DG Police YB Khurania and principal secretaries of agriculture, cooperative, food supply, transport and other related departments were present. Collectors of all districts participated in the meeting over video conference.