CM writes to PM over paddy procurement
   Date :01-Nov-2019

 
Staff Reporter :
 
RAIPUR
 
Baghel urged the Prime Minister to issue directives to concerned officials that, surplus rice after distribution in PDS, should be validated for central pool by relaxing a condition in the MoU 
 
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking appointment for meeting him for discussing issues pertaining to paddy procurement. The Chief Minister in a fresh letter to the Prime Minister sought time for meeting him so that both the leaders can discuss on paddy procurement under Minimum Support Price (MSP) from farmers during the ongoing Kharif Marketing Year 2019-20. In his letter the Chief Minister mentioned that the state government is soon going to start the paddy procurement process under MSP and all necessary preparations have been completed for the same.
 
The Chief Minister while reminding the Prime Minister about the letters he had sent earlier on July 5 and October 25, 2019, said in both these letters he had urged the centre to hike the Minimum Support Price for paddy for Kharif Marketing Year 2019-20 to Rs 2500 per quintal and in case the centre is unable to do so, the state government should be allowed to procure paddy at Rs 2500 per quintal MSP under Decentralized Procurement Scheme (DCP).
 
Also keeping in view the extensive interest of the farmers, the Chief Minister urged the Prime Minister to issue directives to concerned officials the surplus rice after distribution in PDS, should be validated for central pool by relaxing a condition in the MoU. The Chief Minister further stated that during previous years, the Chhattisgarh government had always transferred surplus rice to central pool through Food Corporation of India. This has led to procurement of paddy grown by farmers living in far flung areas as well under MSP. He said the state is expecting to procure 85 MLT paddy in the Kharif year 2019-20 and it intends to provide its surplus rice for NFSA through FCI. It stated after custom milling of paddy, 57.37 MLT rice will be approximately available with the state, of which, 25.40 MLT rice will be used under PDS which includes 15.48 MLT from central pool and 9.92 MLT from state pool.
 
The surplus 32 MLT could be made available for central pool through FCI. The Chief Minister in his letter further added that being the issue a significant one, he had tried seek appointment for meeting the Prime Minister on October 23 and 24, so that all aspects of this issue can be discussed but due to PM’s busy schedule, appointment was not given. Hence the Chief Minister has urged the Prime Minister to given him time for the same at the earliest.