Raipur: As per the instructions of chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, the mega campaign for paddy procurement is being run in Chhattisgarh. This paddy procurement campaign, which started from November 01, 2022, will continue till January 31 this year. Officials of the Food Department said that till 5.30 pm on January 10, 91.15 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been procured from the farmers on the support price in the state. In lieu of paddy purchase, Rs 18,766 crore has been paid to 21.17 lakh farmers of the state under the bank linking system.
On the initiative of the Chief Minister, like last year, paddy procurement is going on at a rapid pace this year as well. Similarly, the paddy thus procured is being lifted for custom milling. So far DO has been issued for the lifting of about 78.15 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, against which 66.20 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been lifted by the millers. Officials said that on January 11, 1.63 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been procured from more than 40,000 farmers. Apart from this, 14,000 tonnes of paddy have also been purchased from the farmers through tokens obtained online. More than 50,000 offline tokens and about 4, 389 online tokens have been issued for paddy procurement for the next day.
Meanwhile, this year 25.92 lakh farmers have been registered in the state including about 2.26 lakh new farmers. A total of 2616 procurement centers have been set up for paddy purchase at support prices in the state. Normal paddy is being bought at the rate of Rs 2040 per quintal and grade-A paddy at Rs 2060 per quintal. Similarly, a strict vigil is being kept on the paddy procurement system in the state. Goods carriers are being checked at check posts to prevent illegal transportation of paddy from border states.
