Chhattisgarh seeks Rs 700 cr loan

NCDC to provide assistance for procuring paddy in state

Chhattisgarh government will take a loan of Rs 700 crore from the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) to procure paddy in the state. The Cabinet has authorised Chhattisgarh Marketing Federation (MARKFED) to issue government instrument (bond) for securing a loan assistance of Rs 700 crore from NCDC at an interest rate of nine per cent per annum.

The state government had set a target to procure 4 million tonnes of paddy and 10,000 metric tonnes of maize this year. The procurement for the kharif marketing season 2009-10 started on October 12 and would continue till January 31, 2010.

The government has set up 1,577 procurement centres in the state to purchase paddy at minimum support price (MSP). The marketing federation has connected the major centres with computer network to get the daily procurement report.

For the common variety of paddy, the MSP is Rs 950 a quintal. The MSP for a quintal of Grade A paddy is Rs 980. The MSP for the maize has been fixed at Rs 840 per quintal.

The state government had procured about 3.7 million tonnes of paddy in the kharif marketing season 2008-09. The paddy output had touched 5.7 million tonnes last year and the state had set a target of 6.55 million tonnes production this year.