Govt starts paddy purchase before schedule

Praveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, September 27

Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has announced that procurement of paddy has been advanced from October 1 to today (Tuesday).

He was speaking at the launch of e-Kharid, an initiative of the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB) and the Department of Food and Supplies.

Paswan and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar launched a mobile phone application for e-Kharid.

Farmers of the state had been demanding early start to procurement. In the absence of government agencies, farmers were forced to sell paddy to private dealers for Rs1,200 to Rs1,300 a quintal. The minimum support price (MSP) is Rs1,510.

“Khattar, Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar and Minister of State Karan Dev Kamboj asked me on phone to bring a copy of an order, stating that paddy procurement starts today. They told me paddy had started arriving in grain markets,” Paswan said.

He handed over the copy to Dhankar and said the government advanced procurement by four days in the interest of farmers. “I have asked the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other agencies to start procurement today.”

He called e-Kharid a unique initiative that would benefit farmers, traders and consumers alike.

Paswan appreciated the state government for linking ration cards with Aadhaar numbers, resulting in unearthing 1 lakh fake ration cards.

He said, “The government’s aim is to end corruption. On November 1, all ration depots in the state will have Point of Sale (POS) devices.”

CR Chaudhary, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said people were scared of online system, but it was important to bring India among top five countries of the world. “Under e-Kharid, farmers and traders will get SMS alerts about the rate of produce,” he said.

Khattar said it was a matter of pride for Haryana to have taken the lead in implementing e-Kharid which would ensure transparency.

On e-NAM, he said a delegation of arhtiyas met him in Chandigarh recently. “I assured them of implementing e-NAM with their consent.”

Khattar said the state would implement a system that would deduct amount of farmers on the basis of moisture in produce.

Farmers are happy 

Kaithal: Farmers in Kaithal welcomed a decision to advance paddy procurement by four days. Anoop Bansal, president of the new grain market, and Manish Sikka, commission agent, said the decision would benefit farmers as they could not withhold their produce till October 1. District Food and Supplies Commissioner (DFSC) Monika Malik asked farmers to bring only dry produce to mandis. She asked farmers not to bring the produce harvested at night, as it added moisture to it. “The government agencies can purchase crop with moisture up to 17 per cent,” she said. OC