By IANS
Raipur : Billed as one of India’s biggest paddy procurement exercises, about one million paddy farmers will earn over Rs.30 billion by selling an estimated four million tonnes of paddy to the Chhattisgarh government beginning Nov 1.
Chhattisgarh has set up 1,526 computerised procurement centres across all 18 districts for smooth conduct of the drive, which will end Jan 30.
The government has fixed a price of Rs.695 per quintal for common grade paddy. The grade-A category of paddy will be bought at Rs.725 per quintal. Prices for both categories include a bonus of Rs.50 per quintal.
Government officials said paddy was grown in the state this year in an area of over 3.5 million hectares.
“The procurement will begin Nov 1, the seventh state foundation day, and will continue till Jan 30. Payments will be made immediately through cheques,” Radhakrishna Gupta, chairman, Marketing Federation (Markfed), Chhattisgarh, told reporters Wednesday.
Chief Minister Raman Singh has instructed his 12 cabinet colleagues to visit the districts to ensure smooth and transparent procurement with timely payments to farmers.
Raman Singh wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this month, demanding that the minimum support price of paddy be increased to Rs.1,000 per quintal for the current kharif season to “do justice with millions of poor paddy farmers of poor states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh”.