Manohar orders smooth paddy procurement
Civil supplies minister Manohar directs officials to ensure hassle-free paddy procurement by learning from last year’s challenges and arranging gunny bags, labour and transport in advance
Vijayawada: Civil supplies Minister Nadendla Manohar has directed officials to ensure that this year’s paddy procurement is carried out in a festive and hassle-free manner, with no inconvenience to farmers. He asked departments to learn from last year’s challenges and ensure that all arrangements are made well in advance.
Addressing a State-level workshop for officials in Vijayawada on Saturday, jointly organized by the Andhra Pradesh Civil Supplies Corporation and the Civil Supplies Department, the minister emphasized coordination among all departments to make procurement smooth and transparent. Manohar instructed that gunny bags, labour, and transport facilities be arranged beforehand, warning against middlemen in the supply of gunny bags. He said joint collectors must take proactive steps to curb irregularities, and the district police department would issue a special Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to ensure fair practices.
He directed officials to incorporate the assurance given by rice millers against the recycling of PDS rice into official agreements, adding that priority would be given to mills that deliver rice to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) within 60 days.
Manohar said the procurement process would be monitored through real-time governance, with every data point available on a centralized dashboard, ensuring complete transparency. He also instructed that 30,000 tarpaulins, distributed last year due to unseasonal rains, should again be prepared in advance to safeguard grain stocks.
Referring to the difficulties farmers faced during the previous regime, the minister said the present NDA coalition government had introduced farmer-friendly policies that gave cultivators freedom to sell their grain to the mill of their choice, at a time of their choice. Farmers can now join the sale process easily by sending a “HI” message on WhatsApp, after which payments are directly credited to their bank accounts within 24 to 48 hours of sale confirmation, he said.
Civil supplies commissioner Saurabh Gaur, civil supplies corporation VC and MD Dilli Rao, agriculture department MD Manjeer Jilani, director R Govinda Rao, and FCI GM Vijay Kumar Yadav participated.
