Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has instructed the officials to procure Paddy from farmers whatever may be the expenditure and make payments to the farmers on time.
The CM said that there is a record and bountiful paddy production this year for the first time in the history and as a result heavy quantities of Paddy are reaching the Civil Supplies Purchasing Centres.
He said the state government is ready to spend any amount of money to purchase the Paddy and asked the officials to arrange for the immediate payments to farmers without causing any delay. The CM said though the State government is releasing funds, it is taking sometime for the money to reach farmers and this delay should be eliminated.
The CM held a review meeting with Civil Supplies Commissioner Sri CV Anand and other officials at Pragati Bhavan here on the procurement of Paddy at the Civil Supplies Procurement Centres in the state.
The officials informed the CM that last year the procurement was 9 Lakh Tonnes and this year by this time 37 Lakh tonnes of Paddy has already been procured and another 2 Lakh Tonnes are expected at the Centres.
They said in 2013-14, the maximum procurement was at 17 Lakh Tonnes and now it has become 2.5 times more. So far 37 lakh Tonnes of Paddy is purchased at a cost of Rs 5,300 Crore and of this, Rs 4000 Crore has already given to farmers. The CM asked the officials to pay the rest of Rs 1000 Crore immediately.
The CM said without waiting for the FCI to clear the dues, the officials should arrange for the payment of Rs 1000 Crore and for this the government will give Bank Guarantee. Since the farmers need money to start the operations during the Kharif, more concentration should be paid on clearing the farmers’ payments, the CM ordered. He also wanted the officials to review the situation regularly and make the payments.
