Cabinet Minister Rekha Arya has issued instructions to ensure payment to farmers within 72 hours of Kharif crop procurement. Preparations for the procurement of Kharif crops, including paddy and mandua, were reviewed at a meeting of the Food and Civil Supplies Department held on Tuesday at Devendra Shastri Bhawan in the Secretariat. In the meeting, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rekha Arya directed officials to ensure that farmers are paid for their produce within 48 to 72 hours, as per the regulations. The Central Government has fixed the minimum support price for paddy this year at Rs. 2,369 per quintal and for mandua at Rs. 4,886 per quintal. The state government has already allocated a budget of Rs. 600 crore to ensure timely benefits to farmers. Cabinet Minister Rekha Arya stated that warehouse facilities for crop storage will be expanded and adequate availability of jute bags for procurement will be ensured at every procurement site. Instructions were issued to officials to this effect. The meeting also assured prompt resolution of demands raised by representatives of the FCI, Mandi Committee, and Rice Mill Association. Principal Secretary L. Fanai, Food Commissioner Chandresh Kumar, MS Bisen, CM Ghildiyal, RFC Garhwal Arvind Pandey, Lata Mishra, Additional Commissioner PS Pangti, Rice Mill Association President Sachin Goyal, Pankaj, and other officials and representatives were present. Paddy procurement target is 7.50 LMT* After the meeting, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rekha Arya stated that this year, the state’s paddy procurement target has been set at 7.50 lakh metric tons and the target for mandua procurement has been set at 5,000 metric tons. She also stated that the number of procurement centers has been increased in both the Garhwal and Kumaon divisions. In the Garhwal division, 135 procurement centers will be set up this year, compared to 120 last year, while in the Kumaon division, 600 procurement centers will be set up this year, compared to 564 last year.
