Officials told to purchase all paddy at procurement centres

Rangareddy: As farmers are preparing to harvest standing paddy crops in several mandals of Ranga Reddy district, officials are preparing to ensure seamless procurement facilities to them. The administration has geared up to set up procurement centres for farmers before they get grains to godowns.

According to officials, a target of 30,000 MT paddy procurement has been fixed this season; a total of 34 procurement centres has been planned across the district. They were told to ensure all arrangements at the centres to help farmers dispose of the produce at the facilities without any inconvenience. Apart from this, an awareness seminar was organised for officials, mainly from Agriculture department, procurement centres and Civil Supplies, beside the millers on Tuesday at the collectorate.

Additional collector Chandra Reddy warned officials against indulging in irregularities during paddy procurement of paddy from farmers. “Strict action will be taken if irregularities found during the procurement of monsoon crops,” he warned.

Reddy wanted officials to come up with a comprehensive plan to ensure smooth procurement from farmers at all centres. A total of 34 centres will be established in the district; an estimated 30,000 MT paddy will be purchased. For this six lakh bags were made available at the facilities,” he said.

The whole procurement process should be done in a transparent manner; officials should take up the task with utmost responsibility. “The officials of the line department should coordinate with each other to provide facilities, like adequate supply of water and sufficient shade to ensure the process moves smoothly without leaving any room for inconvenience at the centres.’ Besides, he said, full support price for standard grain should be provided as announced by the government.

Officials from the Agriculture department were told to sensitise farmers at field level to ensure a well-dried paddy will reach the procurement centres in compliance with the Fair Average Quality (FAQ) standard. Sufficient vehicles should be provided for transportation so the centres to carry out time bound procurement.

The officials were also told to identify places to store purchased grain. Besides, tarpaulins and gunny bags should be made available at all centres to prevent grain damage due to untimely rains. They were told to make available adequate weighing machines, grain callipers and moisture-measuring tools at the centres.